This work was made in Nuenen in late spring 1885, just after Van Gogh completed The Potato Eaters (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam), in the same dark hues that reminded the artist of "green soap" or "a really dusty potato, unpeeled of course." Van Gogh was "convinced that in the long run it produces better results to paint [peasants] in their coarseness than to introduce conventional sweetness… If a peasant painting smells of bacon, smoke, potato steam—fine—that’s not unhealthy—if a stable smells of manure—very well, that’s what a stable’s for."
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Title:Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace
Artist:Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
Date:1885
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:17 3/8 x 15 in. (44.1 x 38.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hays, 1984
Accession Number:1984.393
Amédée Schuffenecker, Paris and Clamart (by 1901–at least 1907); Auguste Pellerin, Paris; [Eugène Blot, Paris, by 1933–37; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 2, 1933, no. 49, as "Devant l'âtre," bought in; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 23, 1937, no. 69, as "Devant l'âtre"]; Levy-Hermanos, Paris (by 1939–at least 1947); Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hays, Norwalk, Conn. (by 1955–84)
Paris. Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. "Exposition Vincent van Gogh," March 15–31, 1901, no. 44 (as "Femme cuisinant," lent by M. Amédée Schuffenecker).
Paris. Société des Artistes Indépendants. "Exposition rétrospective Vincent van Gogh," March 24–April 30, 1905, no. 41 (as "La Cuisinière hollandaise," lent by Amédée Schuffenecker).
Mannheim. Kunsthalle. "Internationale Kunst- und Grosse Gartenbau-Ausstellung," May 1–October 20, 1907, no. 366d (as "Garköchin," aus Sammlung Schuffenecker, Paris) [This is the third of four editions of the catalogue; the first, provisional edition lists the painting as no. 1076 "Köchin"; see Scotti 1985 and Feilchenfeldt 1988].
Paris. Galerie Beaux-Arts. "Gauguin, ses amis: l'École de Pont-Aven et l'Académie Julian," February–March 1934, no. 143 (as "Les Crêpes," lent by M. Eugène Blot).
New York. Wildenstein. "The Art and Life of Vincent van Gogh," October 6–November 7, 1943, no. 5 (as "By the Fire Place" [sic], lent by the Levy-Hermanos Collection).
New York. Wildenstein. "Van Gogh," March 24–April 30, 1955, no. 8 (as "Woman at the Hearth," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hays).
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. "Vincent van Gogh," July 3–August 4, 1957, no. 3 (as "Woman at the Hearth," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hays, Norwalk, Connecticut).
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Van Gogh and Expressionism," July 1–September 13, 1964, unnum. brochure (as "Woman at the Hearth," lent by Mrs. Mortimer Hays, Norwalk, Connecticut).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 107.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Nicolas Manoff. "Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)." Journal des artistes 20 (March 24, 1901), p. 3426, notes it was executed before the artist’s arrival in Paris in 1886.
Louis Vauxcelles. "Le Salon des Indépendants." Gil Blas 97 (March 23, 1905), p. 1, calls it his first canvas and “noirâtre comme un Ribot” (dark as a Ribot).
G. Devil. "Sensation d’art." Le Voltaire 27 (April 11, 1905), p. 2.
Hoffmann-Eugène. "Comptes rendue des expositions." Journal des artistes 30 (May 14, 1905), p. 4757, calls it an “étude fort curieuse, d’une belle sincérité” (very curious study, of a beautiful sincerity).
Van Gogh—Mappe. Munich, 1912, pl. 7, as "Die Frau am Herd" on list of plates, and as "Am Herd" on plate itself.
"Art at Home and Abroad." New York Times (June 21, 1914), p. SM10, ill., as "Woman with Frying Pan".
Louis Piérard. The Tragic Life of Vincent van Gogh. London, 1925, ill. opp. p. 31, as "Brabançonne Peasant" [French ed., Paris, 1924].
Paul Colin. Van Gogh. London, 1926, pl. 4, as "The Pancakes" [French ed., Paris, 1925].
J.-B. de La Faille. L'Oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh: Catalogue Raisonné. Paris, 1928, vol. 1, p. 55, no. 176; vol. 2, pl. 43, as "Devant l'âtre".
Walther Vanbeselaere. De Hollandsche Periode (1880–1885) in het Werk van Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). Antwerp, 1937, pp. 300, 416, no. 176, as "Boerin bij den Haard," in the collection of Eugène Blot, Paris; dates it September 1885.
J.-B. de La Faille. Vincent van Gogh. London, [1939], pp. 146, 568, 575, 586, no. 174, ill., as "By the Fire-Place" [sic], in the Levy-Hermanos collection, Paris; dates it Nuenen period 1885.
Georg Schmidt. Van Gogh. Bern, 1947, pl. 3, as "Kochende Bäuerin," in the Levy-Hermanos collection, Paris; dates it Nuenen 1885.
Dr. Paul Gachet. Vincent van Gogh aux "Indépendants". Paris, 1953, unpaginated.
Paolo Lecaldano. L'opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh e i suoi nessi grafici. Vol. 1, Da Etten a Parigi. repr. [1st ed., 1966]. Milan, 1977, pp. 104–5, no. 174, ill., as in the Hays collection, Norwalk, Conn.; dates it May 1885; calls F1288 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) a study.
J.-B. de La Faille. The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings. Amsterdam, 1970, pp. 95, 99, 435–36, 453–54, 618, no. 176, ill., as "Peasant Woman by the Fireplace," in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hays; dates it May 1885 or slightly later; states that it was painted at Nuenen; lists other works depicting the same model and interior.
Jan Hulsker. The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. [1st ed., Amsterdam, 1977]. New York, 1980, pp. 178–79, no. 799, ill., as "Woman Baking Pancakes," formerly [sic] collection Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hays; states that it is closely related to drawings dating from the beginning of June 1885 and done in connection with work on "The Potato Eaters" (F82; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).
Gary Tinterow inThe Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1984–1985. New York, 1985, p. 27, ill., as "Peasant Woman Cooking Pancakes"; dates it late spring 1885; compares it to "The Potato Eaters" (F82; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam).
Roland Scotti. Die "Internationale Kunst–Ausstellung" 1907 in Mannheim. Mannheim, 1985, pp. 37, 42, states that it was exhibited at Mannheim 1907 as "Garköchin"; reproduces the first, provisional edition of the exhibition catalogue, which includes no. 1076 "Köchin"; notes that this was one of seven Van Goghs that remained in the exhibition, even after hostile reviews in the press.
Walter Feilchenfeldt. Vincent van Gogh & Paul Cassirer, Berlin: The Reception of Van Gogh in Germany from 1901 to 1914. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1988, pp. 84, 145.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 494, ill.
Jan Hulsker. The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches. rev. ed. Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 178, 182, no. 799, ill. p. 179, as "Woman Baking Pancakes".
Sjraar van Heugten. Vincent van Gogh, Drawings. Vol. 2, Nuenen, 1883–1885. Amsterdam, 1997, pp. 192–94 n. 3, p. 268, relates it to a series of drawings depicting women by the hearth, in particular a sketch in the Kröller–Müller Museum (not in F, JH 796) that he dates August 1885, assigning the MMA picture to that same period or to the preceding spring.
Teio Meedendorp inThe Paintings of Vincent van Gogh in the Collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum. Ed. Toos van Kooten and Mieke Rijnders. Otterlo, 2003, p. 418 n. 4.
Marije Vellekoop, and Roelie Zwikker, with the assistance of Monique Hageman. Vincent van Gogh, Drawings. Vol. 4, Arles, Saint-Rémy & Auvers-sur-Oise, 1888–90. Zwolle, The Netherlands, 2007, part 2, p. 388 n. 1.
Susan Alyson Stein inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 146, 218, no. 107, ill. (color and black and white).
Jennifer Helvey. Irises: Vincent van Gogh in the Garden. Los Angeles, 2009, p. 173, claims it remained in Auguste Pellerin's collection until his death in 1929.
Peter Schjeldahl. "A Visit with Vincent." The New Yorker. August 12, 2014, unpaginated, ill. (color) [online only: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/visit-vincent].
Maite van Dijk. "Foreign Artists versus French Critics: Exhibition Strategies and Critical Reception at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris (1884–1914)." PhD diss., University of Amsterdam, 2017, p. 152, fig. 59 (color), notes it was the only painting from the artist’s Dutch period to be included in Exh. Paris 1905, where critics discounted it as “a mere prelude to his true artistic calling and potential, awakened in Paris and inspired by French art".
Dorota Chudzicka inVan Gogh in America. Ed. Jill Shaw. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 2022, p. 201.
La Faille (1970) dates this picture to the artist's Nuenen period, May 1885 or slightly later. At about the same time, Van Gogh made several drawings with similar compositions, depicting the same model and interior. Those closest to the present picture include F1288 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam) and F1291 (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo).
Eugène Druet photograph, pl. 73, no. 30/40–2970, ca. 1900–1910 (Collection Le fonds Druet-Vizzavona, Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Fort de Saint-Cyr, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France). Probably shot during Exh. Paris 1905.
Near the end of his life, Vincent van Gogh moved from Paris to the city of Arles in southeastern France, where he experienced the most productive period of his artistic career.
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise)
mid-July, 1883
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