as the last and most ambitious painting of his pre-Impressionist period, 1880-1885. When van Gogh painted the The Potato Eaters, he had not yet discovered the importance of color. Van Gogh went to Antwerp in November 1885, partly to escape local gossip. He vainly attempted to make money from painting portraits, townscapes, and trades men's signs. Then he enrolled at the Antwerp Academy to make use of the live models. Shortage of money led to van Gogh's undernourishment and acute physical distress. When van Gogh enrolled at the Academy in January 1886, he had just finished drawings that one day would be compared to the masters. Although willing to learn, he astonished fellow students by refusing to abandon the rapidity and boldness of his own methods. Possibly because of this, he was downgraded to the beginner class and consequently he left for Paris to live with his brother. It was through his brother Theo and an art gallery devoted to living artists that he discovered the Impressionists, and became familiar with the new art movements developing at the time. Before Paris, van Gogh had not even known who the Impressionists were. He admired pictures by Degas andMonet and through Toulouse-Lautrec he was in touch with the local members of the art world. He was also influenced by Japanese print makers. The Impressionists discovered Japanese prints long before van Gogh's arrival. These prints influenced him in his use of harmonized color. Van Gogh pinned them on his walls, and they appear in the background of some of his paintings. While refining his technique as painter in Paris, the home of the Impressionist school, he soon found that his real affinity was not for this school but for three men who had left their company to carry the torch of revolt a step further: for Cezanne, usually considered the most monstrous painter among the outcasts, for Gauguin, under the combined influence of Cezanne and o...
