Landscape with a Wheatfield

Jacob van Ruisdael's Landscape with a Wheatfield immediately shows us why he is considered the great master of 17th-century Dutch scenery.

Ruisdael wasn’t just painting pretty views; he was capturing the dramatic, humbling power of nature. Notice how the horizon line is set very low, making the sky the true, dominating subject. The immense, cloud-filled expanse takes up almost two-thirds of the painting, making the fields and the small figures working the land feel both vital and yet utterly humble beneath the vastness of the weather.

The presence of the wheatfield connects the sublime beauty of the scene to the real-life work and dependence on the land that defined Holland at the time. This artwork offers the viewer a feeling of being present in a vast, overwhelming, and deeply moving natural world.