Head of a Peasant Woman in a White Bonnet, 1885

Dutch, 1853-1890
Oil on canvas
18-1/2 x 13-3/4 in. (47.0 x 35.0 cm)
The Norton Simon Foundation
F.1985.1.P
© 2009 The Norton Simon Foundation

On view

In 1885 van Gogh created the painting he considered his first masterpiece, "The Potato Eaters." This painting is a study for one of the central figures in the final composition. In writing about that painting, van Gogh told his brother, "I have tried to make it clear how those people, eating their potatoes under the lamplight, have dug the earth with those very hands they put in the dish, and so it speaks of manual labor, and how they have honestly earned their food."