Meaning of The Potato Eaters-Art of Van Gogh’s Oil Painting

    Members of an earthy peasant family are eating potatoes with satisfactory face around a small and narrow table, and the layout of their room is like a slum. This is what the Van Gogh oil painting The Potato Eaters depicts. Of the whole frame, the pale yellow light hanging beyond the table makes up the focus. Dim light spread on the tired faces of all families, making their figures sharply distinct. And viewers can see clearly that the roof is quite low, and the hue is mainly grey. So, some feeling of melancholy and depression will reveal when appreciate this oil painting.
    This great works was created in 1885 by Vincent Van Gogh. Although influenced by realism painting technique, this oil painting is considered by the public as the first test of expressionism. Van Gogh himself did not satisfy to the Holland style realism skill, and he wanted to transfer the intuition and connotation of his paintings to viewers. Besides painting skill, Van Gough had his ethical principle of himself. His heart was so kind and mild that he had a keen relationship with the poor and people in hardship. The preparation of this painting had last five years from 1880 to 1885.
    Van Gogh wished to be a painter for peasants like Miller, so he devoted part of his life living in the country. When mediated this painting, he looked himself as one of the earthy family. Gazing at the massive pigment, the straightforward lineal and the bitter images of peasants, everyone who love The Potato Eaters can realize the hard working and heavy thought of great Van Gogh.