Artwork
Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace
Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace is an oil painting by the Realist artist Vincent van Gogh. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a genre scene it captures an everyday domestic chore, highlighting the woman's labour and the modest interior of a peasant home.
The painting shows a peasant woman standing before a fireplace, engaged in cooking over the fire. As a genre scene it captures an everyday domestic chore, highlighting the woman's labour and the modest interior of a peasant home. The depiction of fire, food, and a solitary figure underscores themes of sustenance, warmth, and the quiet dignity of rural life.
Van Gogh's focus on this humble activity reflects his interest in the lives of peasants and the symbolic value of ordinary work as a source of human warmth and continuity.
Technique & Style
Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace is executed in oil paint on canvas, measuring 44.1 by 38.1 centimetres. Stylistically, it belongs to Van Gogh's early Dutch phase of 1885, when he focused on peasant genre scenes rendered with a dark, earthy palette and heavy impasto. The composition centres on a woman engaged in cooking by a fireplace.
The handling reflects the dense, textured brushwork characteristic of his Nuenen output, where figures and interiors are modelled through layered pigment rather than refined finish.
History & Provenance
Vincent van Gogh painted Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace in 1885 while residing in Nuenen. The oil on canvas measures 44.1 × 38.1 cm. After its execution, the painting passed through Amédée Schuffenecker, Auguste Pellerin, and the firm Levy-Hermanos, then to Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hays before being acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its exhibition record includes the Vincent van Gogh Exposition, the International Exhibition of Art and Horticulture, Gauguin, his friends: the Pont-Aven School and the Julian Academy, The Art and Life of Vincent van Gogh, Van Gogh, Van Gogh and Expressionism, The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920, and The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches.
Overview
This oil painting, titled Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace, captures a moment of domestic labor within a humble interior. The artwork depicts a woman seated by a hearth, engaged in stirring a pot over a fire. Characterized by its rich, earthy color palette and notably textured brushwork, the piece conveys a sense of warmth and quiet industry. The artist's technique emphasizes the materiality of the paint, contributing to the tangible quality of the scene.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.
