Vincent in Auvers sur Oise
(1890)

In the last weeks of his life, Van Gogh completed a number of impressive paintings of the wheatfields around Auvers. This outspread field under a dark sky is one of them.

In these landscapes he tried to express 'sadness, extreme loneliness'. But the overwhelming emotions that Van Gogh experienced in nature were also positive. He wrote to his brother Theo, “I’d almost believe that these canvases will tell you what I can't say in words, what I consider healthy and fortifying about the countryside.”

https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let898/letter.html

The elongated format of Wheatfields under Thunderclouds is unusual. It emphasizes the grandeur of the landscape, as does the simple composition: two horizontal planes.

 

Wheatfield under Thunderclouds

Auvers-sur-Oise: July, 1890 


Oil on canvas

50.0 x101.0 cm.

Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum

https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0106V1962 


Wheat Fields at Auvers Under Clouded Sky

Auvers-sur-Oise: July, 1890 


Oil on canvas

73.0 x 92.0 cm. 


Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum of Art

https://collection.cmoa.org/objects/3c5512b1-e195-4b77-9671-f8c1e73e9b25