ホルディナ・デ・グロートの頭部（F 141、JH 783）

In the winter of 1884 and 1885, in the Brabant village of Nuenen, Van Gogh set out to paint peasants from life and made more than 40 studies of local heads. This is one of them, and it is unusual. Of all those sitters, this woman is the only one whose name has come down to us. She is Gordina de Groot, a farmer's daughter, and she appears again a few months later at the table in The Potato Eaters, the dark canvas Van Gogh regarded as his first real painting. He worked here in earthy browns and greens, keeping her face half in shadow under the white cap the Brabant women actually wore. He was 31, still several years from the bright colour most people picture when they think of him.