Who is Van Gogh’s hidden lady?

The recently discovered study of a woman under the Van Gogh painting Patch of grass could very well be 'Sien', one of the women in the world famous painting The potato eaters. Scientists won’t confirm this thought, but what do you think?

Sien de Groot, the woman on the left in The potato eaters, was of one of Vincent van Gogh’s favourite subjects during his stay in Nuenen (1883-1885). Before Vincent depicted Sien in The Potato eaters, he painted her portrait several times.

Taking a closer look at Sien in The Potato eaters and the discovered portrait one might think: these two look alike!

Scientist do confirm that the underlying painting was made by Van Gogh in Nuenen, but claim that nothing confirms the woman actually is Sien de Groot.

Luuk van der Loeff, restorer at the Kröller-Müller Museum:
"I don’t see any resemblance"

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam won’t comment on this subject to Tracing Vincent, because the painting is not in their collection.

Teio Meedendorp, an independent Van Gogh expert in Amsterdam, explained to CNN that "the underlying painting of a woman was probably painted between November 1884 and March 1885, while Van Gogh was living in Nuenen." During that period Vincent painted a series of farmers heads, followed by the famous Potato Eaters of April 1885.

What do you think?

While scientists don’t confirm the resemblance as long as there is no scientific evidence, a layman is free to take a closer look at Sien and the discovered painting and develop a point of view.

Some resemblances that can be found are:

• Both women are wearing a peasant cap;
• The women have the same facial expressions;
• The women have the same nose and shape of head.

Sien de Groot’s grandson Martien de Groot is not sure whether his grandmother is the lady under the patch of grass "It could be" he says, "but she does look different".

Vincent van Gogh painted almost fifty heads of farmers during his stay in Nuenen, so it is very well possible that the depicted lady is someone else.

What do you think? Is the discovered lady Sien de Groot? Do you see any resemblance? Or is this a totally different peasant woman, just wearing the same peasant cap?

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