“Today we have a beautiful, romantic image of a sheep herder and his flock on the large heath, in 1883 this was essentially different. It was a hard-working profession, the shepherd was usually single, he could not cook, the flock usually consisted of sheep from various farmers and in the evening he ate with farmers. It is no coincidence that Van Gogh came across a flock of sheep in Zweeloo, as they walked everywhere in Drenthe. After an hour, Vincent packs his things and decides to follow the road back towards South Sleen, back home. He walks out of Zweeloo towards Veenoord. Back to the lodging where he stays with Hendrik Scholte. Vincent walks between the heathlands that surround Zweeloo. He sees beautiful lilac colors and he gets the same feelings that the artists had in the Barbizon near Paris, which he so admired. The beautiful, beautiful purple colors, the very beautiful skies above that inspire Vincent to his work.”
We will hear what remains of his work that he made in Drenthe next in the fourth and final part of this podcast series, the part in which Vincent finally sits down to eat and drink something, sees an old lady at a spinning wheel and another encounters a flock of sheep. On Sunday, November 5, you will hear this podcast on Radio Drenthe, in Drenthe Toen, via the website or the various podcast apps.