A Wheatfield with Cypresses
“A Wheatfield
with Cypresses” (also known as “A Cornfield with Cypresses”) is an
oil painting by Vincent Van Gogh . It takes part of his wheat field series of
the 1889. All were painted in the mental asylum in France where Van Gogh
was voluntary a patient from 1889 to 1890. The works were inspired by the view
from the window at the asylum toward.
The F717 painting
portraits golden fields of wheat, white clouds moving in an azure sky above,
two cypresses on the right and olive trees in the middle distance, with hills
and mountains behind. There are also some red flowers near the fields of wheat.
In my opinion, this picture instills a melancholic feeling but it’s also a
symbol of simplicity and minimalism of the life. In fact, when Van Gogh was at
the Saint-Rémy mental asylum, he was calm.
The first version
(F717) was painted during a period of fanatic painting. Probably it was
made “en plein air” near the subject. After he copied the composition twice in
his studio: one almost the same size (F615) of the original and a smaller version(F743).
Vincent sent the
smaller version to his mother and his sister as a gift. Then, he sent the
original to his brother Theo.
Now the F717
version is in the National Gallery in London, the F615 is in The Metropolitan
Museum of Art in NY and the F743 takes part of a private collection.
Costanza Parlapiano III H
Commonly, but erroneously, it is believed that this was the last
painting painted by Van Gogh before he died. Art historians are in fact
uncertain about what Van Gogh's last painting, since there are no documented
sources on the subject. A storm, almost like a presentiment of mourning, is
about to break down on a wheat field from which he rises, dark and gloomy, a
flock of black crows in a low untidy flight, almost as if they were vultures on
a corpse. It is well known that the artist had a profound respect for the
forces of nature, and this explains why he painted shaky skies in many of his
works: he believed that the subject was endowed with an incalculable artistic
potential if reproduced on canvas. The wheat field, shattered mercilessly by
the wind, has been realized through real whippings of yellow, while the sky,
initially terse, is now a harbinger of storm, to the point of being
overshadowed by the intense black colour of the clouds that, inexorably, they
fall hostile and threatening. He also painted areas with light colours that
probably represent the beautiful moments of life that he never managed to
achieve as indicated by the three roads that seem to have no end. G.Guerriero 3H