The artwork, titled “Man with Saw,” created by Vincent van Gogh in 1881 in the Netherlands, is a charcoal sketch on paper. This piece belongs to the Realism art movement and falls under the genre of sketch and study. Currently, the artwork is housed at the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands.
The artwork depicts a man in profile, engaged in the act of sawing. The rendering captures the figure in a moment of focused concentration, as he holds a saw in his right hand while appearing to be deep in thought or possibly fatigued. The man’s attire is simple, typical of a laborer, consisting of a vest over a shirt and a pair of trousers. The background is minimalist, contributing to the emphasis on the figure’s form and action. The choice of charcoal as a medium allows for detailed and textured shading, giving depth and dimension to the sketch. Through the use of delicate lines and careful shading, van Gogh skillfully illustrates the kind of everyday, working-class figure that was often the subject in Realist art.
