Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace

This is another of Van Gogh's peasant studies from 1885, just before he would abandon the colder, grayer climate of Holland for Southern France. Van Gogh's depiction of peasants huddled in the shadows of their modest abodes, occupied by daily tasks was unique for the time. In those rare occasions when the poor were captured in paint, it was usually at a wedding or feast, not in the shabby circumstances of their homes. He wrote that he was "convinced that in the long run it produces better results to paint [peasants] in their coarseness than to introduce conventional sweetness…" For Van Gogh, the truth of their circumstances as well as their determination to carry on despite harsh circumstances made them heroes.