Wheat Field with Reaper and Sun

Vincent van Gogh

Contemporary-Art.org
Keywords: WheatFieldReaperSun

Work Overview

Wheat Field with Reaper and Sun
Late June 1889
Oil on canvas
Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands


In May 1889 Van Gogh voluntarily entered the asylum[59] of St. Paul[60] near Saint-Rémy in Provence.[61] There Van Gogh had access to an adjacent cell he used as his studio. He was initially confined to the immediate asylum grounds and painted (without the bars) the world he saw from his room, such as ivy covered trees, lilacs, and irises of the garden.[59][62] Through the open bars Van Gogh could also see an enclosed wheat field, subject of many paintings at Saint-Rémy.[63] As he ventured outside of the asylum walls, he painted the wheat fields, olive groves, and cypress trees of the surrounding countryside,[62] which he saw as "characteristic of Provence." Over the course of the year, he painted about 150 canvases.


Van Gogh worked on a group of paintings "The Wheat Field" that he could see from his cell at Saint-Paul Hospital. From the studio room he could see a field of wheat, enclosed by a wall. Beyond that were the mountains from Arles. During his stay at the asylum he made about twelve paintings of the view of the enclosed wheat field and distant mountains.[64] In May Van Gogh wrote to Theo, "Through the iron-barred window I see a square field of wheat in an enclosure, a perspective like Van Goyen, above which I see the morning sun rising in all its glory."[65] The stone wall, like a picture frame, helped to display the changing colors of the wheat field.