Vincent van Gogh is known all over the world. Did you know that in 1883, Van Gogh lived in Drenthe for three months? On the recommendation of artist friends, Van Gogh came to Drenthe. He was inspired by the original landscape and peat workers of Drenthe. This was a short, but important period in his life. It was here that he developed his passion for painting.
On 1 November 1883, Vincent…
Vincent van Gogh is known all over the world. Did you know that in 1883, Van Gogh lived in Drenthe for three months? On the recommendation of artist friends, Van Gogh came to Drenthe. He was inspired by the original landscape and peat workers of Drenthe. This was a short, but important period in his life. It was here that he developed his passion for painting.
On 1 November 1883, Vincent van Gogh went to Zweeloo. In the morning, he got a lift on a cart belonging to lodging-keeper Hindrik Scholte, and in the afternoon he walked back to Nieuw-Amsterdam/Veenoord. In a letter to his brother Theo, he wrote about the journey back:
“And then, when dusk fell – imagine the silence, the peace of that moment! Imagine a country lane with tall poplars with their autumn leaves then, imagine a wide mud road, all of it black mud, with heathland spreading beyond infinity on the right, heathland spreading beyond infinity on the left, a couple of black, triangular silhouettes of turf huts where a red light from the fire is shining through the little windows, with a few puddles of dirty yellowish water reflecting the sky, in which peat stems lie rotting.”
During the last part of his journey, Van Gogh walked from Achterste Erm over the Boerdijk, a part of the road that was in a very poor condition at the time. We know this from a report for the newspaper of March 1883: ‘… but that Boerdiek, the way it looks is a disgrace!’ The description Vincent van Gogh gives of the dike is in line with what the Boerdijk looked like at the time: fields and heathland on both sides, peat shacks and the high poplars. A view that was quite different from today.
