In December 1883, Vincent van Gogh moved to Nuenen, a small village in Dutch Brabant, where he lived until 1885. Here he produced nearly two hundred paintings and several watercolors and drawings. The protagonists of these works were weavers at work, the village of Nuenen and, of course, the peasants to whom van Gogh dedicated The Potato Eaters, i.e. the masterpiece of his Dutch period, for which he made detailed studies and which he would complete in 1885. During this period, the painter closely observed lives of farmers, characterized by poverty and hard work in fields. In depicting them, he focused on facial expressions, which reflected a sort of resignation to a bitter fate. Settings were often sad and miserable. During this period, he returned to live with his parents after a love affair in which he cohabited with Clasina Maria Hoornik, known as Sien, a pregnant prostitute who was mother of a child. His breakup with Sien was a very painful stage of Vincent's life, and his return to the family was marked by deep misunderstandings. To keep himself busy, during the two years he stayed at his parents' home, Vincent devoted himself just to painting, depicting the work of the humble, who represented for him true humanity, living by its own sweat and basing their existence on human relationships. Figures and scenes got a strong expressive potential, on a dark palette with predominantly dark and bituminous tones. His stay in Nuenen ended just after the sudden death of his father, which was experienced by Vincent with strong feelings of guilt, who had always represented the marginalized son and far from family’s expectations.