Head of a Peasant Woman, 1885 by Vincent Van Gogh

By the time of this painting Van Gogh was living in his parents' hometown of Nuenen, and had devoted himself to painting the local weavers and peasants. The preceding gears had been full of turmoil, including an unrequited love for his widowed cousin Kee Vos and a relationship with a seamstress and prostitute called Clasina Maria Hoornik (Sien) in The Hague. Apart from the scandalous liaison that temporarily alienated Van Gogh from his family, his time spent in The Hague during 1882 was important for him artistically, and marked the real beginning of his future artistic development.

In 1883 Van Gogh left The Hague and Sien and spent three months in Drenthe, before arriving at his parents' house in Nuenen. During the summer of 1884 Van Gogh had an ultimately disastrous affair with Margot Begemann, whose family bitterly opposed the union, Margot unsuccessfully attempted suicide and the relationship floundered. The local opinion of Van Gogh was irreparably damaged, and the following year when Head of a Peasant Woman was painted, he was falsely accused of a local peasant's illegitimate pregnancy and subsequently found it difficult procuring models to pose for him.

In 2022, a Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait was revealed during an X-ray of Head of a Peasant Woman, as National Galleries of Scotland was prepping for an upcoming exhibition on impressionism

When Vincent Van Gogh was low on money he took to painting on both sides of the canvas, but over the years some of his reverse side paintings were covered up and lost.

During his lifetime, Van Gogh created more than 30 self portraits.