Burning Weeds

Vincent van Gogh

mid-July, 1883 · Transfer lithograph with pen and ink · Drawings and Prints

In July 1883, Van Gogh decided to try his hand at lithography for a second time. This is one of two prints he produced that summer on a scale he hoped would cater to illustration projects. The subject reveals his early interest in the work of the renowned French painter of peasant subjects, Jean-François Millet. In 1881, he read Alfred Sensier’s biography of Millet, which illustrates a sheet of sketches featuring a woman burning weeds. The standing figure poking the fire in the background is reminiscent of illustrations in the Sensier volume. For this work, he used a fine pen on smooth transfer paper and encountered some difficulty with the fidelity of the transfer to the lithographic stone and subsequent printing. Consequently, he touched up the print extensively with pen and ink.

Artist

Vincent van Gogh

Date

mid-July, 1883

Medium

Transfer lithograph with pen and ink

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Fletcher Fund, William R. Drexler Sr. and Violet Drexler Bequest, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, and The Derald H. Ruttenberg Foundation, in honor of Nadine M. Orenstein and Charles and Jessie Price Gifts, 2021