We see a further progression upwards in van Gogh’s 1882 sketch, At Eternity’s Gate, which depicts an aging man leaning over on a chair with his head in his hands. This is a particularly moving drawing, as it seems as though his tough life is more than he can handle at that moment. Here, still, something is wrong with the way van Gogh poses him. 
The man appears as though he is not sitting on the chair, but rather in a position where he is trying to get up, but cannot, as if he is trying to break from his hard life, but his workload simply will not let him, and keeps him in that position. This position is yet even more upright; the fact that van Gogh’s characters are progressing throughout time and changing positions show that he did not have the difficulty in drawing figures as Ives previously suggested, and demonstrates he ability to not only depict different positions, but emotion, as well. This drawing most accurately shows van Gogh’s aim to show the “human spirit through art” (van Tilborgh 15). Here, the man’s pain is expertly depicted, and very much felt by the viewer, as a result of the way in which van Gogh posed the man on the chair and the feelings given of his wanting to get up from the position, which his hard work is not allowing him to do.
Emotion is not as easily visible in van Gogh’s 1883 painting, 
Peasant Women in the Fields, where two women appear to be uncomfortably bent over at what is likely dusk, trying to finish the work that needs to be completed before the day’s end. The women are mere silhouettes, but even with just an outline of their bodies, van Gogh makes it visible to the viewer that their work is not easy through the “wooden” pose they are in, to once more quote Ives. They are both bent over at the waist, and seems almost as if they will not be able to get up easily, again illustrating Ives’ remark about van Gogh having difficulty “representing his subjects,” (Ives 56) since the pose does not look exactly natural. But by putting his figures in an uncomfortable pose, he is able to illustrate just how uncomfortable their lives were. This time however, the women have again progressed in the process of standing up as the day comes to a close and they can return home.