Peasant woman cooking by a fireplace

Peasant woman cooking by a fireplace,
Vincent van Gogh,  1885,
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA)

This work was painted in Nuenen (Nederland) in late spring 1885, just after Van Gogh completed "The Potato Eaters" (Vincent van Gogh, 1885, 

Van Gogh Museum, 

Amsterdam, Netherlands), in the same dark hues that reminded the artist of "green soap" or a "good dusty potato, unpeeled, of course." 

Van Gogh was convinced that in the long run to portray peasants in their coarseness gives better results than introducing conventional sweetness.