Peasant Women Digging up Potatoes and Elizabeth Bentley
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| Vincent van Gogh, Peasant Women Digging up Potatoes, 1885 |
"It was so dusty, the
dust got up my lungs, and the work was so hard. I got so bad in health, that
when I pulled the baskets down, I pulled my bones out of their places. I was
about thirteen years old when it began coming, and it has got worse
since."
An excerpt from Isabel Wilson, 38 years old, mother and worker.
An excerpt from Isabel Wilson, 38 years old, mother and worker.
"I have been married 19 years and have had 10 bairns [children]:...My last child was born on Saturday morning, and I was at work on the Friday night... None of the children read, as the work is no regular..When I go below my lassie 10 years of age keeps house..."
Van Gogh's, Peasant Women Digging up Potatoes, is similar to other van Gogh paintings with peasants as the subject. But this one directly relates to the excerpts above. Times were tough for peasants and the working class during the time of industrialism, even more so for women. This painting depicts a women hard a work and uncomfortably bent over. Van Gogh was an expert at capturing the laborious work that the peasant had to perform. It's telling that he doesn't show their faces - they are anyone, everyone.
Especially in comparison to the excerpt from Elizabeth Bentley, this painting is the image one would picture while listening to the words of the women above. Women had to not only worry about themselves, but often times their children. The statement from Mrs. Wilson exemplifies the toil that had to be done.
Especially in comparison to the excerpt from Elizabeth Bentley, this painting is the image one would picture while listening to the words of the women above. Women had to not only worry about themselves, but often times their children. The statement from Mrs. Wilson exemplifies the toil that had to be done.
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