The Potato Eaters

Mar 01, 2016#1

The Potato Eaters (1885)

Five figures, from three generations. Of the three females
a girl sits, her back towards the artist. Two small windows
display the darkness of evening.

Eight rafters run from front to back. The ouders sit on high-backed 
chairs with raffia woven seats. Oma schenkt koffie in, Opa holds
out his cup over a table worn rough at the edges.

A lamp shines on vapour rising from a bowl of aardappelen.
They scoop the meal from a common bowl towards them 
with reversed spoons. Mevrouw stares past her man,

an arbeider wearing a cap; wide eyed she wonders why.
Their hands presented as lumpy, an accent on the joints,
faces and noses scribed with a bulbous characterisation.

Two luxuries are evident: light and coffee. Such poverty:
no piano, no colour, no caged bird to sing, no literature to
enthral, no Bible to comfort, no paintings on the wall.

The artist has rendered to the core, he has left out: dried herbs and 
ham hocks hanging from the ceiling. The family pose awkwardly for 
their pastor. He captures their rough-spun clothes. We presume

their linen clean, washed smelling of lye. In his latter days he paints 
with primary colours and abandon, with whirls and daring strokes 
before the entrance of those crows that cross his wheatfield sky.





*****

Reviews

[ieuan ap hywel]

Mar 11, 2016#12
Frank, you will love the Mill and the Cross, for the amazing way the fabrics, everything comes to life, in a way I have NEVER seen in any film. It's as if we had really stepped into the time-space reality of the painting. The heave of a horse, pulling a cart... Life is Vivid. The wooden cogs in the mill. There is very little dialogue, and it is mesmerizing.
I did prefer the earlier diction of those hams on the ceiling.
https://normsonline.files.wordpress.com ... eaters.jpg
osel

[ieuan ap hywel]

Mar 09, 2016#10
Hi Frank, looks like you've done some good work with this.
I just saw this film The Mill and The Cross
about Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel (Rutger Hauer) creating his 1564 masterpiece
"The Procession to Calvary."
and what a beautiful piece of film-making it is.

Your poem reminds me of it - I thought you might like to see it.
for the record, I read Mignon's post and I too, was lost with what was happening with the hand and the hummus. I did pick up that it was rude. I'll try to come back later today or soon to take a look, Frank

[ieuan ap hywel]

Mar 09, 2016#8
You just commented on the lines that struck me most. When I was a kid, "clean and mended" was a goal, not stylish. Also, we were taught to spoon toward us rather than up, from our own individual bowls so as not to appear piggish--or like "a horse with a feedbag strapped on." I miss the old ways when a friend reaches across the entire common appetizer of hummus to swipe bread toward her mouth after traveling the diameter of the circle. Seriously?
Some folks are too uppity to employ common manners ;-)
Mignon A King

[ieuan ap hywel]

Mar 02, 2016#7
The painting brought to life - it is a very good 'way in', and a great "angle". The "poetry" vs "prose" discussion: well, the lines go longer and longer, so it is drafty still, and doesn't make good use of line breaks. But you knew that.
It's well worth revising, and I know this kind of goes against the grain, but I think it could be half the length. .(I say this knowing that that would make almost every line quotable.) . OR, alternately, it could be allowed to meander even more, and become something of a short story. I'd be more inclined to condense, distill it, and sharpen it as a poem.
There are some wonderful, fresh moments--like -for me- their utensils, being drawn toward them, that make this feel so 'true', and bring the painting to life. Or rather, the life to life.
Many marvelous passages. The N and the painter. . .fascinating.
"Not mad enough to notice. That would come later." classic afterthought that hangs.
"they drank Geneva with a few raisins in the glass, stirred in sugar as a treat. They lived well." :)
I lived with them too, they were clean, their clothes
rough spun, but clean. Their linen white, washed, it smelled of soap. this, as just one example, stands out, for me.