Fields, expanses of wheat in the works of Van Gogh. Painting "Wheat field with cypresses"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Nature has always occupied a special place in the work of landscape painters. Especially willingly, the artists depicted the sea, mountains, forest landscapes and endless fields, including wheat. Among these paintings, in a special place is the creation of the outstanding Van Gogh "Wheat Field with Cypresses".

History of Creation

Van Gogh created his painting at the end of the 19th century. At this time, the great artist was in a terrible state: at that time he had already spent almost a year in a psychiatric hospital. The master was tired of his imprisonment, and this painting was his attempt to return to art. Wag Gog began to spend a lot of time drawing. He was especially attracted and reassured by the image of nature. Having begun to draw fields (wheat especially occupied the author), the artist began to often add trees to his compositions. He especially liked to portray cypresses.

Symbolism

Experts explain that cypress has become for the artist a symbol of sadness and decline. Despite the fact that the tops of cypresses are directed strictly upwards, on the Mediterranean coast, these trees are traditionally considered a symbol of sadness. It was cypresses that the artist depicted in his works in the late eighties. Researchers explain thiscomplex emotional experiences of the master. Moreover, the cypress trees are the only objects in the painting depicted vertically. The author specially depicted them separately from the field and highlighted them with a particularly bright color, which creates a great contrast between a clean, calm field and lone trees striving in powerlessness.

At the bottom of the canvas are light fields, wheat or rye. It seems that they are leaning from a sudden oncoming wind. In the background are two cypress crowns fluttering like a flame. The artist himself admitted that he was very carried away by these trees. He called them magnificent. The emerald grass looks very contrasting compared to the wheat field. As Van Gogh said, such fields require great observation from the artist. If you look at their outlines for a long time, you can see blackberry bushes or tall grass among the rows of wheat. So the author tried to portray them from the right edge of his canvas. In the foreground, at the very bottom of the picture, you can see the strokes depicting ripe berries on a bush.

The author depicted the sky in his picture even more unusual. In a clear clear sky, unusual curls of lilac clouds are observed. Apparently, the author intended that bad weather in the sky is the complete opposite for a calm and carefree endless field, whose wheat ears sway slightly in the wind. If you carefully look at the sky, then among the raging clouds you can barely noticeprominent crescent.

Van Gogh about his painting

The master repeatedly admitted that he specially depicted the vast expanses of the field under the protracted sky. This is how, in his opinion, the sadness and longing that overwhelmed him manifested itself. Van Gogh believed that this outstanding painting was to express what he could not put into words about himself. One way or another, the painting "Wheat Field with Cypresses" is still of interest to art historians and tourists.