‘Potato Eaters’…Controversial Artwork at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum

Iconic 19th-century artist Vincent Van Gogh's painting "The Potato Eaters." (Getty Images)
Iconic 19th-century artist Vincent Van Gogh's painting "The Potato Eaters." (Getty Images)
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‘Potato Eaters’…Controversial Artwork at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum

Iconic 19th-century artist Vincent Van Gogh's painting "The Potato Eaters." (Getty Images)
Iconic 19th-century artist Vincent Van Gogh's painting "The Potato Eaters." (Getty Images)

The Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh is more famous for his cheerful paintings – his bright and light-flooded southern French landscapes. But now for the first time, Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is devoting an exhibition exclusively to his early depiction of peasant life, full of darkness but also admiration.

"The Potato Eaters" is one of the first masterpieces by Van Gogh and without a doubt the artist's biggest "failure," at least according to its critics at the time. It depicts five people sitting in a cramped kitchen having dinner, their faces tired and distorted – bulbous noses, bony gnarled hands. The scene is dark and gloomy, according to the German News Agency.

About 50 paintings, sketches, drawings and letters will be on display from October 8, telling the story of the painting – a "story of ambition and perseverance," the director of the museum, Emily Gordenker, said. "The painting was never sold and never exhibited during Van Gogh's lifetime. Today, however, it is world-famous and considered a key work in the painter's development," she said.

Vincent Van Gogh painted "De aardappeleters" (potato eaters) in 1885 during a turbulent period he spent with his parents in Nuenen, in the southeast of the Netherlands. He made numerous studies and sketches for it.

It's one of Van Gogh's "most thought-out paintings," said Bregje Gerritse, curator of the museum. The painter himself described it as a "master's test" and, according to the curator, wanted to make his breakthrough with it. But the painting failed. Van Gogh received harsh criticism for this work, especially because of its use of gloomy colors and the distorted depiction of people's faces.

To bring the painting to life, the museum has now recreated the scene with a life-size, walk-in model for its spotlight exhibition.

"The Potato Eaters: Mistake or Masterpiece?" Van Gogh wanted to depict the harsh reality of peasant life, a life he himself admired. He deliberately showed the characters with coarse faces and bony hands worn from labor, Gerritse said. "Van Gogh wanted to show the peasants in all their roughness."



Prague Zoo Joins Effort to Ensure Survival of Rare Insect

An expert keeper displays critically endangered Lord Howe Island stick insects, nicknamed "tree lobster," at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
An expert keeper displays critically endangered Lord Howe Island stick insects, nicknamed "tree lobster," at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
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Prague Zoo Joins Effort to Ensure Survival of Rare Insect

An expert keeper displays critically endangered Lord Howe Island stick insects, nicknamed "tree lobster," at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
An expert keeper displays critically endangered Lord Howe Island stick insects, nicknamed "tree lobster," at the zoo in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

The Prague Zoo has joined an international effort to ensure the survival of a rare insect that had been considered extinct for more than 80 years.
The zoo is among six institutions around the world that have been able to create living conditions for the largest species of flightless insect, the Lord Howe Island stick insect, which grows up to 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) long. They are on display, a rare chance that only London and San Diego also offer, The Associated Press reported.
The insect, also known as the Lord Howe Island phasmid, is native to a remote archipelago in the Tasman Sea off Australia.
The uninhabited archipelago was discovered in 1778. Rats that arrived with a ship stranded offshore in 1918 appeared to wipe out the insect's population.
Mountain climbers found signs of the insects in the 1960s on a rocky island 23 kilometers (14 miles) offshore from Lord Howe. In 2001, it was confirmed that specimens were surviving there. Two pairs were taken to Australia for breeding, a step considered necessary for the critically endangered species.
“They had to make an enormous effort to survive 100 years on such a tough place as the Balls Pyramid, and now need such sensitive care to live in captivity," Vojtěch Vít, an expert keeper at the Prague Zoo, said Tuesday.
The zoo had to create an air-conditioned building with disinfection equipment for keepers at the entrance to protect the insects that are susceptible to bacterial and virus infections, and get approval from Australian authorities for breeding.
The goal of the breeding program is to return the insect to its natural environment on Lord Howe Island after rats were eradicated there in 2019.