From 29 September 2012 to 25 April 2013, the Van Gogh Museum presents Vincent. The Van Gogh Museum in the Hermitage Amsterdam, focusing on Van Gogh's personal themes. Van Gogh was passionate and unconventional, constantly pursuing new goals. Sometimes he focused on elements of craft, such as technique or style, and sometimes on certain genres, such as portraits or landscapes. He developed his skills through study and experiment and by exploring themes of his own choosing, such as peasant life, portraits, self-portraits, colour, Japanese influences and nature. This video series explores Van Gogh's personal themes with curator of paintings Leo Jansen as your guide.

Part 4: Peasant painter
For Van Gogh, peasant life was associated with simplicity, constancy, and rebirth. This theme played a central role throughout his life as an artist, especially during his periods in Nuenen and Provence. In 1885 he wrote to his brother Theo, ‘When I say that I’m a peasant painter, that is really so.’ He thus followed in the footsteps of Jean-François Millet, the master of the peasant genre.

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