Van Gogh's Early Dark Paintings Before His Colorful Period

Before his vibrant sunflowers and starry nights, Vincent van Gogh created somber, muted paintings in the Dutch countryside between 1884 and 1887. These early works, mostly painted in Nuenen, were inspired by realists like Rembrandt and Jean-François Millet. They include 'Loom with Weaver' (1884), depicting linen weavers in cramped, dark rooms; 'The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring' (1884), which was stolen in 2020 and recovered in 2023; and 'The Potato Eaters' (1885), his first major success, showing a peasant family under a single oil lamp. Other works are 'Head of a Woman (Gordina de Groot)' (1885), a study for 'The Potato Eaters'; 'Still Life with Bible' (1885), contrasting his father's Bible with Émile Zola's 'La joie de vivre'; 'Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace' (1885); 'Basket of Potatoes' (1885); 'Bird's Nests' (1885); 'The Old Church Tower at Nuenen' (1885), painted before its demolition; and 'Three Pairs of Shoes' (1886-87), one of his last early-phase works before adopting Impressionist colors in Paris. These paintings built his technical knowledge of light and shadow, using dark palettes of browns, blacks, and muted tones. Many are held by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo.