Het Noordbrabants Museum, Den Bosch: Figure studies of peasants working in the fields symbolized for Vincent the unity of people with nature. He painted the woman bending over stiffly to emphasize the motion of digging: the action of representing an action was something Van Gogh regarded as essential and modern. This work forms part of a series about living off the land. How a working peasant figure would appear in a larger composition can be seen on a canvas from Van Gogh’s (never completed) dining room decoration for the Hermans house in Eindhoven.
