Head of a Woman

Through the winter of 1884 and into 1885, Van Gogh painted head after head of the farm workers around Nuenen, close to 40 of them in all, and this is one of that crowd. He was teaching himself to build a face out of a few earth colours, working fast and rough, wanting these heads to look worn by outdoor labour rather than posed in a studio. The exercise had a purpose. It fed straight into the large group scene he was planning, The Potato Eaters, where several of these same weathered faces would gather around a single lamp. Seen on its own, without that picture in mind, it is simply a working woman caught in half light, her cap and shawl set down in the dark brown and grey tones he used all through his years in the Netherlands.