Van Gogh Painting of the week: Wheat field with crows

This week’s painting of the week is Wheat field with crows.

This week, during the last days of July, Tracing Vincent pays special attention to Van Gogh’s last days and the tragic story of his death on July 29, 1890.

A good reason to put a painting in the spotlight that Vincent created during the last weeks of his life.

Wheat field with Crows is a dark painting, with intense, gloomy overtones. The painting is often thought to be Van Gogh’s last painting and sometimes interpreted as his "suicide note".

But was Wheat field with crows Vincent’s last painting? And do the crows above the dark field and the dead end road predict Vincent’s suicide attempt?

A gloomy state of mind

Vincent created this painting in July 1890, during his stay in Auvers, France. The subject of the painting, a wheat field, was not unique for him. Vincent loved to paint nature; he often picked up his easel, put it out in one of the wheat fields surrounding the village and started to paint.

Van Gogh was obsessed with wheat fields; in a letter to his mother and sister he declared that he was absorbed with the subject. He told them that his calm mood was in harmony with the peaceful fields. This letter suggests that Vincent was feeling great at the time. But his letters to his brother Theo had a different tone:

"There are vast fields of wheat under troubled skies, and I did not need to go out of my way to express sadness and extreme loneliness."

We thus assume that Vincent wasn’t very happy when he created this painting. Apart from the fact that he was feeling lonely in Auvers, he was also afraid for his attacks to return and the need to go back to the asylum. The fact that Van Gogh was free to paint whenever and wherever did make him happy, but his fears overshadowed this joy. These troubled feelings are visible in Wheat field with crows. Not only in the strong colors but also in the composition.

Dark crows in a troubled sky

Wheatfield with crows is a brilliant painting; Vincent didn’t show this level of technique, style and complementary colors before. The atmosphere of the work is breathtaking. The strong colors and heavy brushstrokes create a dramatic view. It’s almost like the thick layers of paint absorb you: A characteristic of today’s modern art works.

The cut-off path through the wheat field and the turbulent sky give the painting a mystic and a kind of scary atmosphere. The power of nature in this work is tremendous.

The crows make this work dark and mysterious. The direction in which the crows are flying is uncertain. Do they fly towards or away from the painter? The painting raises a lot of questions, which makes it very powerful and even more interesting.

In a letter to his brother Theo he writes about this painting:
"I'm all but certain that in those canvases I have formulated what I cannot express in words, namely how healthy and heartening I find the countryside."

Although the atmosphere and rough style of this painting suggest it was Vincent’s suicide note on canvas, there is no evidence to support this idea. The painting looks very finished, where other paintings from his last weeks haven’t been finished at all.

The techniques used in this painting show no characteristics of fragility at all. It seems that Vincent had full control of his brush. His brushstrokes were never so controlled, his desperation is nowhere to be found in his technique.

A common interpretation of the symbolism in this painting is that it shows Van Gogh's troubled state of mind. The dark, forbidding sky, the indecision of three paths going in different directions and the black crows overhead could be a foreboding of death.

Shortly after Van Gogh created this painting, he walked into his beloved wheat fields and shot himself in the chest.

Click here to take a closer look at Van Gogh's Wheat field with crows

Read more about Vincent’s last days and his tragic death:

Episode 1: The last letter

Episode 2: His last weeks

Episode 3: The suicide attempt

Episode 4: The last day

Episode 5: His last words

Episode 6: The funeral