Day 4 - The Potato Eaters

The Potato in Fine Art

The Potato Eaters is an oil painting by the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) painted in 1885 in the Netherlands.

Van Gogh saw the Potato Eaters as a showpiece, for which he deliberately chose a difficult composition to prove he was on his way to becoming a good figure painter.

Van Gogh said he wanted to depict peasants as they really were.

He deliberately chose coarse and ugly models, thinking that they would be natural and unspoiled in his finished work.

The painting had to depict the harsh reality of country life, so he gave the peasants coarse faces and bony, working hands.

He painted the five figures in earth colours – ‘something like the colour of a really dusty potato, unpeeled of course’.

The message of the painting was more important to Van Gogh than correct anatomy or technical perfection.

He was very pleased with the result: yet his painting drew considerable criticism because its colours were so dark and the figures full of mistakes.

Nowadays, the Potato Eaters is one of Van Gogh’s most famous works.

Today’s variety - Cara (Maincrop)

Cara seed potatoes are one of the most popular maincrop varieties due to their excellent resistance to blight and high yield.

The tubers are round with beautiful white and pink white skin and pink eyes.

A robust seed potato variety with excellent drought resistance and good all round disease resistance.

Cara has soft, floury white flesh, therefore is good for baking and chipping.

Cara (main crop)