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.
Early October 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.
Early October 1883, Vincent van Gogh drew so-called peat stems. These had been disposed of by the peat workers in a piece of cut bogland. In one of his letters, he wrote:
“Yesterday I drew decomposed oak roots, so-called peat stems […] Those roots were lying in a puddle of black mud. Some black ones were lying in the water, reflecting there, some bleached ones were on the black plain. A white road ran past them, with behind it more peat, pitch-black.”
The white dirt road runs through the middle of the drawing, and you can just see a little piece of the road on the bottom left. Because of this road with its square angle, it is likely that this drawing was made in the surroundings of the Eikenlaan.
Here in Veenoord, there was a lot of bogland in the period of Van Gogh. When you cut bogland, this immediately results in puddles of water as can be seen on this sketch in black and white. This is because bogland is below sea level. Peat from bogland is made by dredging (or scooping) wet peat sediments into a rectangular bin and tamping it down. In this region, this is also called 'baggelen'.
