Kubistisch portret van een Jonge boer met zijn vee

Geannoteerd rechts onder 'Paris' (Parijs) 1929. Dit is een van de zeldzame kubistisch werken die Nicolaas Eekman in zijn vroege periode maakte. Tijdens de 1e wereldoorlog vluchtte de in Brussel geboren Nicolaas Eekman naar Nederland. Hier zocht en vond hij onderdak in de pastorie Nuenen. Over deze tijd vertelde Eekman in een interview: 'The war had began, I had to flee Belgium, I arrived in Holland. And I found there, my little corner of Nuenen, a little corner of history. I was received there by a friend, the Pastor de Ligt who lived in the presbytery where used to live Van Gogh. He said: "Nic, you're a painter, you must come where Van Gogh lived, come and stay with me in the rectory". I lived for four years in Van Gogh’s house, in Van Gogh’s room, and I lived with his models, with people he had known. I have stories that are completely unheard of these models, these weavers that I met, that I drew, with whom I worked, came to tell me surrealistic stories about him. So it gave me a boost and, naturally, my respect for Van Gogh had only grown. Nobody knew him yet.
I saw at peasants homes Van Gogh’s paintings above their beds. It is now worth millions, but I saw that, I remember those days ...
I lived life with simple people, farmers in Brabant, with Van Gogh’s former girlfriend. I lived with her -so to speak- I used to talk with her, I went to her house, I drank coffee at the table where Van Gogh had painted the "Coffee Drinkers" (sic now known as the painting the potato eaters', at the same table, I saw all those people there. I know them. All that has become for me a handy paste, fantastic paste that I could peel, eat, I could feed myself. It was beautiful.' Onder invloed van Vincent van Gogh blijven boeren een belangrijk onderwerp in het oeuvre van Eekman. Waar hij in Parijs in eerste instantie bevriend raakt en schilderd in lijn met de internationale avant garde ontwikkeld hij in de loop der jaren een stijl die in stijl en onderwerp meer verwantschap heeft met de oude meesters. Met name Breughel en Jeroen Bosch.