Peasant burning weeds

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.

This painting by Vincent van Gogh is known as ‘Peasant burning weeds’. It was probably a farmer burning potato leaves. At that time, the leaves were burned straight after harvesting to prevent the dreaded potato blight. Potato blight is highly contagious to potato plants and means no potatoes can be harvested. And that had a direct impact on the availability of food. The Provinciale Drentsche en Asser Courant of 17 July 1884 indicates that there were problems with potato blight in Drenthe during the time of Van Gogh: ‘Potato blight is starting to become evident here again.'

The oil painting entitled ‘Peasant burning weeds’ is a successful attempt by Vincent van Gogh to capture the effect of the evening. It is a dark painting with colours that are close in tone. Van Gogh created an intriguing scene by concentrating on the fire and the rising smoke. In 1883, Van Gogh had only been painting with oil paint for a year and was still trying to find his style as a painter.

Van Gogh wrote about this in a letter to his brother, Theo:

‘I'm still working on that weed burner, which I am giving a little tone in a painted study better than before, because it better depicts the vastness of the field and the nightfall, and the fire is the only speck of light with some smoke. I always went outside for it in the evening’.