Wheatfield with a reaper by Vincent Van Gogh

About the Artwork
Wheatfield with a Reaper (1889) was painted by Van Gogh during his stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he could observe the surrounding fields from his room window. The canvas shows a vast golden wheat field bathed in intense sunlight, with a solitary reaper bent over his work beneath a blazing yellow sky. In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh described the reaper as "an image of death" — but one without sadness, a figure working in full daylight with the sun flooding everything in pure gold. The painting is now part of the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and stands as one of his most meditative and symbolically rich works.

About the Artist
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work, though largely unrecognised during his lifetime, went on to profoundly influence 20th-century art. Born in Zundert, Netherlands, he produced over 2,100 artworks in just a decade — including around 860 oil paintings — marked by bold colours, expressive brushwork, and an emotional honesty rarely seen before. Struggling with mental illness throughout his adult life, Van Gogh channelled his anguish and wonder into canvases that today rank among the most celebrated and valuable in the world.