Who is Van Gogh's Gordina?
Gordina de Groot, better known as Sien, was a farmer's daughter from Nuenen. She is one of the five people at the table in the world-famous masterpiece The Potato-Eaters. Gordina was a model for Van Gogh often. They had a close relationship. When she turned out to be pregnant as an unmarried woman, Van Gogh was even unfairly seen as a future father. Of all the people who modeled for him, we know with certainty the name of only one: Gordina de Groot.
Its strong relationship to the masterpiece from his Brabant days makes it an important painting for the museum. Van Gogh managed to capture Gordina's expression well and intimately. Her worried look betrays the hard working-class life. Van Gogh captured Gordina effectively, in alternating broad and fine brushstrokes. Gordina therefore forms the face of Brabant peasant life and Van Gogh's Nuenen period.