Dalou first conceived his magnum opus the Monument aux Ouvriers in 1889, and then worked on the project intermittently through the last decade of his life. By 1898 Dalou had decided upon a columnar composition of a column measuring 32 metres in height. The lowest section of the shaft was to bear over life-size figures of workers within niches.
In pursuit of this intended monument, Dalou travelled to the countryside, seaside and factories on study trips to sketch the noble labourer at his worthy task. These rapid drawings were then transformed in his studio into terracotta bozzetti. The clay models were mostly left in his studio at his death and were posthumously cast in bronze by Hebrard, and later by Susse Freres, and in biscuit by Sèvres.
The present Tête de Paysan reveals Dalou's characteristic vigorous and nervous modelling. The aged labourer's face is sensitively captured in all its furrowed lines, sunken mouth and eyes, and weather-beaten nape. Though this head is one of the studies for his large niche figures, Dalou has rendered it in meticulous detail, a work complete in itself, and one which Hebrard's delicate wax casting has caught in all its subtlety. As with the Grand Paysan, Dalou has created an intense vision of the heart and soul of the land in his Tête de Paysan, but in this instance heightening the impression by concentrating on the facial physiognomy.