The artwork, titled “Sand Diggers in Dekkersduin near The Hague,” was created by the renowned artist Vincent van Gogh in 1883 while he was in The Hague, Netherlands. This piece, mediumed in pencil on paper, falls under the Realism art movement and belongs to the genre of sketches and studies. It is currently housed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The artwork depicts a scene of laborers engaged in the strenuous task of digging sand. Numerous figures are portrayed, all absorbed in their work, with some bent over shovels and others pushing wheelbarrows laden with sand. The sketched lines are dynamic and expressive, capturing both the movement and the intense physical effort involved in digging. The background shows a large, sandy embankment, adding depth to the composition and situating the workers within their natural environment. The simplicity and rawness of the pencil medium effectively convey the harsh, labor-intensive reality of the depicted scene, aligning with the principles of the Realism art movement.
