Wheat Field With Cypresses, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889
By Sean Paul Final
One of Vincent van Gogh’s masterpieces, Wheat Field with Cypresses, is a
distinguished painting. It is a naturist piece. Coloring with an engaging cypress tree,
following many light blue clouds.The principles of art in the painting varies, the rhythm of
the painting comes from the clouds, easy on the eyes; flowing at ease. The wheat
establishes the balance of the painting, its transparency echoes with a light tone. The
elements of art in the painting are fluid, not structured to the finest detail. The colors
presented in the painting are vast, only the cypress having a deep green presence. The
texture is thick, almost like a double coat of paint was applied. The mountains in the
distant, almost blending with the clouds’ brushstroke. The grass having a faded shape,
bending with the wind, its yellow intent comes to give the painting a bright mood. The
bushes have a deep transparent structure, giving an obvious description of a healthy,
green bush. The cypress is vivid with detail, showing a structured tree that is unaffected
by the wind’s effects. The lines in the painting are loose, not defined, except for the
Cypress. The artist used these complex elements to regard the obvious blue cloudy sky.
Another element the artist used was the deep green cypress tree, it is the only structure
in the painting that is dark green. The grass centered at the bottom is definitely yellow,
with a slight green, thick and about a couple of inches in height. The elements impact
my understanding of the work by its rich detail, not strict or deep in structure, but an
obvious color, demonstrating a transparent wheat field, with mountains appearing in the
deep background. I chose this painting to look at carefully because of its rich detail, the
Cypress automatically grabs my attention every time I look at it. My first impression of
this work is the general question of, is this painting representing a fall or summer view?
In my opinion the painting would be summer, the bushes are dark green, and so is the
Cypress. What helped to expand my first impression is the distant mountain in the
background and the deep swirly clouds. Almost all of the features grab my attention
on the painting. Post Impressionism is definitely connected to this work of art. “Van
Gogh’s signature style exemplified the tenets of Post-Impressionism and influenced
German Expressionism and the development of modernism itself,” according to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art website. “Cypresses gained ground in Van Gogh’s work by
late June 1889 when he resolved to devote one of his first series in Saint-Rémy to the
towering trees.” Another historical point from the website shows: “The Met’s painting
support corresponds to a standard sized 30 figure, a format that Van Gogh used
frequently. The canvas has the distinctive asymmetrical weave-count of toile ordinaire
from the Paris firm of Tasset et L’Hôte that the artist requested in numerous letters to his
brother Theo, and used almost exclusively from the summer of 1888 until his death in
July 1890. The canvas arrived in rolls of 5 or 10 meters, and Van Gogh would cut and
stretch his supports on stretching frames for painting, later removing them and rolling or
stacking loose canvases to send to Theo. In recent years studies of Van Gogh’s canvas
supports by the Thread Count Automation Project in collaboration with the Van Gogh
Museum have identified, using thread count and weave patterns, canvases cut from the
same bolts.”
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436535
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/vincent-van-gogh-a-wheatfield-with-cypresses
