Sitting Old Peasant Woman 1903

Paula Modersohn-Becker made this portrait of a Sitting Old Peasant Woman with oil on canvas, but beyond that, it is hard to say when exactly she made this work, so much of her practice was about instinct and feeling. The painting has this incredible earthy quality, doesn't it? Look at the way the pigment sits on the canvas, thick in some places, almost like a relief. It's like the artist is building up the form, almost sculpting with paint. And the color palette – muted blues and browns – it's like she's trying to capture the very essence of the earth itself. The dark eyes, in profile here, don't catch your eye at first, but when they do you can't unsee them. Modersohn-Becker's touch reminds me of Van Gogh, someone who also wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, to really wrestle with the paint.