Corn harvest in Provence

During the summer of 1888, Vincent van Gogh set up his easel in the wheat fields outside Arles, a town in the south of France he had moved to earlier that year. The southern sun captivated him. Coming from the cloudy skies of the north, he was thrilled by the bright light and blazing colors of Provence, and that excitement pours out of this canvas. Golden fields stretch across the scene, dotted with bundled sheaves of harvested grain, while a single farmer works away in the distance. Behind him sit modest farmhouses, gentle hills, and a sky of deep, glowing blue.

This was one of the busiest and happiest chapters of Van Gogh's short career. He was painting at a furious pace and writing long, hopeful letters to his brother Theo about everything he saw around him. The thick, restless brushstrokes here are unmistakably his, giving the wheat a rippling energy as if a warm wind is passing through it. Harvest scenes held a special meaning for him because they spoke of the steady rhythms of country life and the quiet dignity of ordinary workers, subjects that appear again and again in his art. Nothing dramatic happens in this picture, just an honest moment from a working day, lifted by his fearless love of yellow and gold.