Art Gallery

L'Hermitte, Léon Augustin (1844 - 1925), L'hermitte was a well-known painter of peasant life, and Van Gogh - who also wanted to pursue this genre - was one of his greatest admirers. He wrote of him as a painter who "knows the sturdy, stern figure of the working man through and through, and draws his subjects from the very heart of the people."

Reproductions of Lhermitte’s paintings helped Van Gogh during the creation of The Potato Eaters, a work also prepared in numerous studies. Vincent praised L'hermitte in a letter to Theo, comparing his treatment of light to that of Rembrandt.