Here, the peasant is wholly absorbed in his labour, lost in thought and activity, as in many of the artist’s figure and portrait studies. His focus on rural subjects, drawn in pastel, chalk, or pencil, is typical of his early 1890s production. This work closely relates to similar peasant scenes executed in the Belgian countryside during the summers of 1890-1891, some now in the Royal Library of Belgium and the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. It was most likely created in Kalmthout, at the country residence of his sister and brother-in-law, whom he also portrayed at that time. There, he became fascinated by the changing light on the fields, which offered him endless opportunities to study atmospheric effects through the hours and seasons. Like Van Gogh, he regarded the labour of farmers as a form of authentic existence, far removed from the artificiality of modern urban life. The peasant thus became, in his view, an essential subject in the history of art.

Kept in the artist’s own collection until his death, and later passed to his son, this drawing bears a deeply personal and familial provenance. It reflects the intimate dimension of Van de Velde’s early graphic production, created within a domestic setting before his full commitment to the decorative arts and architecture. Yet, as this study and his later reflections attest, drawing would remain for Van de Velde the most essential element all along his career — the foundation of both self-knowledge and artistic fulfilment.