Chiaroscuro

In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh describes this Loom with weaver as ‘an interior with 3 little windows that look out on the yellowish foliage, which contrasts with the blue of the cloth that’s being woven on the loom and the weaver’s smock, which is another blue again’. He finds the dusky workshop is particularly interesting due to the ‘Rembrandtesque’ chiaroscuro.

Varied spectacle

The weaver’s clothing, the cloth on the loom and the landscape in the background offer a varied spectacle of different shades of blue and green. The ‘wooden monster’, as Van Gogh calls the loom, presents a rich variety of browns and blacks. The contrast between inside and outside is enhanced by light and colour.

Characteristic pose

Van Gogh depicts the weaver at his loom in a characteristic pose: the left arm outstretched to beat the weft thread into place with the reed and the right arm raised slightly to shoot the shuttle back and forth with the whip.