Corn harvest in Provence

Painted in the summer of 1888, this sun-soaked scene captures the wheat fields near Arles, in the south of France, where Vincent van Gogh had moved earlier that year. He was deeply taken with the bright light and warm colors of Provence, so different from the gray skies he had known in the north. You can almost feel the heat radiating off the golden field, dotted with bundled sheaves of harvested grain. A lone farmer works in the distance, while simple farmhouses and rolling hills sit beneath a vivid blue sky.

Van Gogh painted this during one of the most productive stretches of his life, when he was turning out canvases at an incredible pace and writing long letters to his brother Theo about the beauty around him. The thick, energetic brushstrokes are classic Van Gogh, giving the wheat a sense of movement as if it is swaying in the breeze. He loved harvest scenes because they reminded him of the rhythms of rural life and the dignity of working people, themes that ran through much of his work. It is a quiet, honest snapshot of a working day, made unforgettable by his bold use of yellow and gold.