Focus on Girl in White and explain the The painting.
Of the paintings Van Gogh completed in Auvers, there were two of the same woman.  He describes her as "a peasant woman, big yellow hat with a knot of sky-blue ribbons."  The second painting may be Young Peasant Woman with Straw Hat Sitting in the Wheat.
Van Gogh uses the "picture plane" for dramatic effect. "How painters use the 'picture plane' is a telling measure," Harrison explains, "of the usually intended effects of their work and their disposition toward the spectator." Having the woman fill most of the pictorial space, she appears closer to the audience.  Van Gogh further shadowed her face and gave her a "distant, unfocused" gaze.  By also having the woman in close proximity, her emotional distance is "poignant".
picture plane