Subject matter

In this part of the site the various subjects as depicted in the painting "Cottage with sticks" are analysed.

The analysis is per subject as being a stand-alone object.
(The way the subjects are depicted in relation to each other, the composition, is dealt with in the Composition section).

The main questions per object to be answered are:

- "What do we see?"
- "Does this object fit in Drenthe in September 1883?"

In other words; "Could this object be seen and painted by Vincent van Gogh?"

(The question whether the subject had Vincent's interest to be painted is dealt with in the Composition section).



The objects:

Most people would call the 'cottage' the main subject. Next probably the sky, followed by the flatlands with the path and the woman and child.

Let's follow this division in subjects and try to answer the 2 questions:

1. The cottage.
2. The sky.
3. The flatlands and path.
4. The woman and child.



1. The cottage.

"What do we see?"
Shown is a 'plaggenhut', this is a Dutch word which is a bit hard to translate exactly in English.
The latter part "hut" stands for a small cottage. The former part "plaggen" are blocks of soil held together by the roots of the grasses. This is not by definition the same as 'turfs'.
Turfs are blocks of soil with a very specific consistency which makes them suitable as fuel.
In the 19th century many of these cottages were present in the province of Drenthe. They served as housing for the labourers who dug up the turfs.
Those cottages were not all the same, the combination of building materials;

- Turfs ('plaggen' or 'turven' in dutch)
- Sticks (tree trunks)
- Lumber (sawn, flat tree trunks)
- Bricks

made for a wide variety of types.

The type of cottage shown in the painting fits in the smallest and most basic species. It has no lumber walls, let alone a brick wall.
The sticks which hold the side-wall can be clearly seen.
Also no windows can be seen.

The question "what do we see?" can be answered as:
"A very basic cottage build entirely of turfs and sticks".



The next question is whether this type of cottage could be found in the areas called Zwartschaap and Stuifzand where Vincent painted his 'first study'?
It is without doubt that there were a lot of cottages in these areas in 1883.

Therefore it is likely that a cottage as painted in "Cottage with sticks" could be found in these areas.

I'm still searching for a "Drenthe-cottage-expert" who might see things in the painted cottage a non-expert doesn't see or knows.




2. The sky.

The sky as we see in "Cottage with sticks" is clouded.
The sun itself is not shown in the painting, it's light comes from the horizon on the left.
The type of clouds are Cirrus and/or Cirrostratus.
From the above it is concluded that the painting is painted at sunrise or in the evening with the sun setting.

Was this type of sky present near Hoogeveen on 13-15 September 1883?
(The date being the date Vincent painted 'his first study').

Vincents own words help us here. In the second part of the first letter from Drenthe (written september 12th) he writes:

"I got up very early this morning because I was rather curious. The weather is splendid, the air is clear and bracing, as in Brabant."

The archives of the KNMI (the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute) agree on this: It is sunny and dry after-summer weather, the temperature is against 20 degrees Celsius. The sky is lightly to half clouded.

To find out whether the painted clouds confirm with the weater conditions of around September 14th 1883, I contacted the KNMI. I met friendly people who kindly offered their assistance.
The conclusion of the KNMI is that according the available weatherdata it can not be excluded that the painting is painted on September the 13th, 14th or 15th, 1883.
In other words, the painted clouds could have been seen on the above mentioned data in Drenthe near the town of Hoogeveen.
Unfortunately there is not any clue available to determine whether it concerns a sunrise or sunset.

From the above it is concluded that the sky as painted in "Cottage with sticks" complies with the weather conditions when Vincent made 'his first study'.





3. The flatlands and path.

What do we see? In the lower right part of the painting we see a very desolate flat earth, brownish green of color. A path runs into the horizon.
In September the heath colors brownish-green.

'The first study' is painted in the areas Stuifzand & Zwartschaap. These are flat desolated areas with heath, paths were made of sand.

Vincent himself writes in letter 389[324] of September 15th:

"The heath is magnificent."

4. The woman and child.

Next to the cottage we see a woman and a child. The woman wears a white cap and blueish clothes. The child's cloths are also blueish.

The presence of a woman is clear when Vincent paints his 'first study'.
See: The Letters section.
A child is not mentioned in his letters. (Some might think it is a representation of Vincents girl-friend Sien and her child whom he left a few days before).

The type of clothes the woman and child wear can be placed at the end of the nineteenth century.

Cottage with sticks & Vincent van Gogh - by Carl & Ans 2003-2005.

Cottage with sticks







Cottage with sticks

Dijk & van der Sluis wrote:
In the surroundings of both villages (Stuifzand & Zwartschaap) during the time in which Van Gogh visited them there stood many cottages.
(Translation from Dutch)

Cottage with sticks

Letter KNMI
April 24, 2003
Full text

Original letter

Cottage with sticks