Potatoes after Van Gogh

One hundred and forty years ago, Vincent van Gogh painted The Potato Eaters in the Brabant village of Nuenen. He considered this 1885 painting of a peasant family gathered around a meal with a dish of steaming potatoes to be his masterpiece. The canvas, which is now hanging in the Van Gogh Museum, is typical of his Brabant period in terms of both subject matter and painting style.

This year, we have a reason to dwell on this special work in an art-historical sense, but also in relation to the present time and the future. Who would Vincent depict in such a genre piece today? What would be on the table? How will our meals be prepared in the future? In exhibitions, presentations and tastings, artists offer their perspectives on these questions.

Contemporary artists draw inspiration from The Potato Eaters. The resulting adaptations are diverse. Some seek traces of the old peasant life reminiscent of Vincent’s time. Others wonder whom Van Gogh would paint if he were alive today: perhaps migrants working in the strawberry fields and tree nurseries of Zundert. Some are simply fascinated by the shape of the tuber.

Giuseppe Penone • Barbara Schroeder • Anna Lange • Nynke Deinema • Dragan Despotovic • Pieter Laurens Mol • Anne Geene • Arjan de Nooy • Paul Bogaers • Karin Borghouts • Paul de Jong • Nanne Meulendijks • Noortje de Brouwer • Lotte van Lieshout • Samuel Sarmiento • Sam Maske • Peter Kantelberg • Juliette Karlsson • An Roovers • Ellen Mandemaker