Peasant woman, head 1884

Vincent van Gogh made this oil painting, Peasant Woman, Head, sometime in the 1880s, when he was working in the Netherlands. Van Gogh was deeply concerned with the plight of the poor. He spent time living among peasants and miners, and he saw art as a way to give them dignity and respect. Van Gogh's portrayal of this woman isn't sentimental or idealized, but it's also not cruel or mocking. Instead, he shows her as she is: a working woman, with a face worn by hardship and the heavy clothing. The dark colors, the rough brushstrokes, all contribute to a sense of the difficulty of her life. We can better understand how art reflects cultural values and social conditions by studying a range of resources such as letters, journals, newspapers, and even census data. Art helps us to see the world from different perspectives and to think critically about our own values and assumptions.