In 1882 Vincent van Gogh was living in The Hague with Clasina Maria Hoornik (known as Sien). Their relationship was a turbulent one and would ultimately end in separation. It's certainly possible that Van Gogh himself was experiencing raw and unhappy emotions at the time he produced this specific work. The following excerpt from a 1 May 1882 letter to Theo supports this assumption:

I’ve now finished two larger drawings. First of all, Sorrow, but in a larger format, the figure alone without surroundings. But the pose has been altered somewhat, the hair doesn’t hang down the back but to the front, part of it in a plait. This brings the shoulder, the neck and back into view. And the figure has been drawn with more care.

The other one, ‘Roots’, is some tree roots in sandy ground. I’ve tried to imbue the landscape with the same sentiment as the figure.

Frantically and fervently rooting itself, as it were, in the earth, and yet being half torn up by the storm. I wanted to express something of life’s struggle, both in that white, slender female figure and in those gnarled black roots with their knots. Or rather, because I tried without any philosophizing to be true to nature, which I had before me, something of that great struggle has come into both of them almost inadvertently. At least it seemed to me that there was some sentiment in it, though I may be mistaken, anyway, you’ll have to see for yourself.

(Letter 195)

In a second letter to Theo written one day later Van Gogh mentioned another version of "Les Racines" which he completed in one sitting. Van Gogh scholar Teio Meedendorp believes that the drawing Van Gogh mentions in his first letter (above) is the one in the Kröller-Müller collection--in part because it's unlikely that a watercolour of such complexity could have been completed in a single sitting.

Van Gogh was no doubt very pleased with the final outcome of this watercolour. Note the signature: "Atelier Vincent." In Van Gogh's drawings, watercolours and paintings he would only sign those works that he was most proud of. Van Gogh had a critical eye of his own works and would only sign 22% of his drawings and watercolours. In this specific watercolour the signature "Atelier Vincent" was an appellation that Van Gogh would use rarely--only ten times in all of his 1,098 drawings and watercolours.

It's clear from the superb execution of this watercolour that Van Gogh's career as a expert draughtsman was well underway.

1. Teio Meedendorp, Drawings and Prints by Vincent van Gogh in the Collection of the Kröller-Müller Museum (Thieme Grafimedia Groep, 2007), pp. 132-33.