The Plain of Auvers

Vincent van Gogh painted this broad view of the countryside near Auvers-sur-Oise in the summer of 1890, capturing the patchwork of fields that surrounded the little village north of Paris. Bands of yellow grain, cool greens, and freshly worked earth roll toward the horizon, while a haystack sits quietly in the lower left corner. Above it all stretches a sky in deep blue-green, and the swirling brushwork across every inch of the canvas makes the whole scene seem to ripple in the breeze. A few slender trees rise on the right, small human touches in an otherwise wide open landscape.

The story behind this painting gives it extra weight. Van Gogh came to Auvers in May of 1890 hoping the peaceful setting would ease his mental struggles, and he threw himself into his work with astonishing energy, sometimes finishing a painting every single day. This canvas belongs to a group of panoramic field scenes he made during those weeks, showing how much he loved the open country. He died here in late July, so these late works offer a glimpse of an artist working at full stretch right until the end.

The thick paint tells its own tale. Van Gogh built up the fields stroke by stroke, laying one color beside another, and if you follow the marks you can trace the exact path his brush took. It is honest, hands-on painting from someone who saw beauty in ordinary farmland and wanted to set it down as quickly and truthfully as he could.