Painting Potato harvesters in museum Vincentre

Not the Potato Eaters but the Potato Harvesters, painted by Philip Sadée. He was a contemporary of Vincent van Gogh. Even more so. Sadée was on Van Gogh's list of favorite artists. Now this painting hangs in museum Vincentre. For years, the artwork was in private hands. After decisive action by Art Dumay and The Friends of Vincentre*, everyone can now admire this painting.

Sadée and Van Gogh

Philip Sadée (1837-1904) was an inspiration for Van Gogh. As an artist from the Hague School, Sadée mainly painted working people. This made him one of the first in the Netherlands to paint farmers and fishermen in their own working environment. He showed his social commitment by focusing on poverty and the position of women. In this way he touched and inspired Van Gogh. This is also evident in sketches from letters. Eventually Vincent also made a painting with potato harvesters.

For Vincent van Gogh, Philip Sadée's painting "Potato Harvesters" inspired a letter sketch and an oil painting of the same subject. In four letters to Theo in the summer of 1883, he wrote extensively about these works. According to Vincent, his kneeling potato harvesters should emanate "a certain mood of devotion. The potato harvest was a popular theme with many artists in those years. The Hague School painter Philip Sadée and Vincent van Gogh shared an interest in figure compositions of working people: farm workers, fishermen, potato harvesters and peasants. For Vincent, the peasant genre was a subject he would later develop in Nuenen leading up to his "Potato Eaters.

*Friendsof Vincent van Gogh & Nuenen