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The Harvest, 1888

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
  • Oil on Canvas, 73 X 92 cm
  • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
    (Vincent van Gogh Stichting)
  • F 412

While in Arles, Van Gogh painted a number of series on various subjects. He had already carried out a sequence of blossoming orchards in the spring of 1888, and in June of that year he turned his attention to the harvest and wheatfields. In little more than a week he executed as many as ten paintings and five drawings on the theme. He worked daily in the fields under the burning sun, until a huge storm put an unexpected end to the harvest on June 20th.

More information about "The Harvest"

Depicting the Harvest

The vast landscape has been built up in horizontal planes; in the foreground lies the harvested wheat, while in the background the purple-blue mountains rise up into the turquoise air.

Van Gogh was not interested in simply painting a pretty, sun-drenched landscape, but in capturing the essence of country life. The various stages of the harvest are depicted in the central plane: there is a haystack, ladders, several carts and, to the right, a man with a pitchfork. Although they appear rather small, Van Gogh considered both the farmers and their labors to be an essential part of his picture.

Van Gogh himself gave the painting its title: La Moisson, the harvest. In his early work in Nuenen, too, the artist had sought to illustrate the various facets of peasant life (see The Potato Eaters).
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