Van Gogh Museum Examines 'The Potato Eaters' in New Exhibition

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has opened 'The Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece?', an exhibition dedicated to Vincent van Gogh's 1885 painting 'The Potato Eaters'. The show traces the work's genesis and critical reception, presenting 24 paintings, 19 drawings, a sketchbook, three prints, three letters, and two books. Van Gogh created the piece in Nuenen, depicting a peasant family at dinner in a stark, unsentimental style that drew negative reviews at a time when rural scenes were romanticized. Despite the criticism, van Gogh considered it one of his best works. The exhibition includes studies for the painting, such as 'Portrait of a Peasant' (1885) on loan from Brussels, and a study of Gordina de Groot, the only named sitter. It also features other Nuenen works like 'The Old Church Tower at Nuenen' (1885), 'Head of a Woman' (1884-85), 'Woman Sewing' (1885), and 'Still Life with Vegetables and Fruit' (1884). During his stay at the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence asylum, van Gogh sketched a new version of the scene in spring 1890. The museum has built a life-sized reconstruction of the De Groot-van Rooij family home, the 'Potato Eaters Studio', where visitors can sit at the dinner table or at van Gogh's painting spot. Daily workshops teach still life or peasant self-portrait painting, and a contest invites visitors to submit photos of their own dinner tables, with selected images displayed in the studio. The exhibition runs until February 13, 2022.