Aardappelrooiende vrouw c. 1886

This charcoal drawing of a potato-harvesting woman was created by Willem Witsen. Observe how the stooped posture of the figure, nearly touching the earth, echoes images of classical antiquity, particularly the figure of the mourning woman, a common motif in funerary art. Here, the curvature of the spine and the downward gaze speak to a similar profound sorrow, not for death perhaps, but for a life inextricably bound to the land and its toils. The act of gathering—in this case, potatoes—resonates with the myth of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, whose daughter Proserpina was abducted, plunging the world into famine. The mother’s grief and desperate search mirroring the arduous task of the woman in this drawing. The raw earth, the stooped posture—the emotional weight of human existence etched in every line. The cyclic return to fundamental human experiences continues to engage the viewer in ways that transcend time and context.