At the Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen, you can see and hear what it was like for Vincent, in Nuenen, at that time.
The film Becoming Vincent tells of his fascination with nature, and at the exhibition on The Potato Eaters you can see "Dark That Yet Is Light.
In Vincent's Light Lab you can experience his quest through the dark, for light, literally.
On December 5, 1883, Vincent van Gogh, aged 30, arrived by train from New Amsterdam in Drenthe at the then station in Nuenen. He moves in with his parents in the parsonage. Vincent feels, however, that he is not really welcome.
In letter 413 of Dec. 15, 1883, he wrote: "There is a similar objection to taking me in as there would be to having a large shaggy dog in the house. He will come into the room with wet paws - and then, he is so rough. He'll get in everyone's way.- And he barks so loud.- He's a dirty animal - in short."
In Nuenen, Vincent made the choice to use the daily, hard life of farmers and weavers as a starting point for his painting.
His stay in Nuenen is one of the most important and productive periods of his life. From December 1883 to November 1885 he produces a quarter of his total oeuvre.
With a large piece of several figures, Van Gogh hoped to prove himself to the outside world. Painting a daily meal of farm workers was popular at the time, and for months he practiced painting heads, and dozens of studies preceded The Potato Eaters.
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On November 24 of 1885, Vincent left for Antwerp. Several drawings and paintings he left with his family were lost when his mother and sister Willemien moved to Breda in early 1886.
Several important paintings from his Nuenen period are on display at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and The North Brabant Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Van Gogh Village Museum tells about Vincent, the Van Gogh family and life in Nuenen. You can still see many of the original buildings in Nuenen: it is an open-air museum.
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