The artwork entitled “Three Persons Returning from the Potato Field” was created by Vincent van Gogh in 1883 while the artist was in The Hague, Netherlands. This piece, rendered in ink on paper, is associated with the Realism art movement and is categorized as a sketch and study. It is currently housed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The artwork portrays three individuals after a day’s labor in the potato fields, depicted in two distinct but related scenes. The upper portion illustrates a figure bending over to work, while the background shows faint outlines of homes and possibly other laborers. The lower part of the composition reveals the trio from a different perspective, with one figure pushing a wheelbarrow, another carrying a heavy sack over their shoulder, and the third one seen walking slightly ahead. The sketches provide a raw and evocative representation of the workers’ exertion, bearing Van Gogh’s characteristic detailed attention to the reality of rural life and manual labor. The accompanying handwritten annotations further reflect the artist’s thought process and dedication to capturing the essence of the working class.
