The Carrot Puller

The Carrot Puller is a powerful drawing created by Vincent van Gogh Dutch, 1853-1890, in 1885. Executed during the artist’s formative Nuenen period in the Netherlands, this intense study highlights Van Gogh's profound dedication to depicting the dignity of peasant life and agricultural labor. The work, rendered in black chalk on cream wove paper, showcases the artist’s mastery of draftsmanship during this time. He employed techniques of stumping and careful erasing to modulate light and shadow, giving the bent figure a heavy, almost sculpted volume against the paper.

The subject matter aligns with Van Gogh’s deeply humanitarian concerns in the mid-1880s, influenced by artists like Jean-François Millet and the social realism movement. The anonymous laborer, shown struggling against the weight of the earth as they pull up their harvest, conveys the physical strain inherent in farming. Van Gogh often created preparatory drawings of this kind, viewing them as essential studies in anatomy and emotion, sometimes intending for them to be translated into oil paintings or circulated as fine art prints.

While Van Gogh is best known for the colorful dynamism of his post-Parisian paintings, works like The Carrot Puller are crucial for understanding his rigorous early dedication to capturing form and human experience. Today, high-resolution images of this piece are often made available through public domain initiatives, allowing scholars worldwide to study the artist's somber yet empathetic approach during this transitional phase. This significant drawing is currently held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.