Het Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch: The thatched and straw-covered farmhouses in Nuenen and its surroundings reminded Van Gogh of the Brabant of his youth. He had no eye for the modern tiled roofs. He compared the mossy huts to the bird nests he collected and called them man's nests. He preferred to paint them at dawn or evening light. Also later in France, far from his native region, Vincent again painted houses with thatched roofs as a Remembrance of Brabant. They were clearly etched in his memory.
