"Crows on a Wheat Field" is an oil painting created by Van Gogh in July 1890.
Crows in a Wheatfield is one of Van Gogh's most famous and controversial paintings. There are probably more interpretations of this specific work than any other painting in Van Gogh's oeuvre. There are many explanations.
Some believe it was Van Gogh's "suicide note" placed on the canvas, while others look beyond a superficial overview of the subject and favor a more active approach. Some of the more extreme critics project their vision even further – beyond canvas and brushstrokes in order to translate the image into a whole new language of the subconscious.
Whether "Crows in a Wheatfield" is Van Gogh's last work is difficult to pinpoint precisely because it is similar to other works that Van Gogh painted and wrote during the same period.
From Van Gogh’s letter written on July 10, 1890, we know relatively clearly that Van Gogh once described three paintings from this period: Under the harsh sky, they are vast of wheat fields, I didn’t need to desperately try to express my sadness and crippling loneliness. I hope you can see them as soon as possible - for I hope to bring them to Paris as soon as possible, and I almost think these canvases will tell you what I cannot say in words, that I see in this country a restoration of health and strength. The third canvas is "The Garden of Daubigny", a picture that I have been thinking about since I came here.
This passage suggests the "badness" or "harshness" of the sky. First of all, because Van Gogh himself had an obvious ambivalence about painting when he described the work as conveying "sadness and profound loneliness" on the one hand, and "restoration of health and strength" on the other.
Dr. Jan Hurskell, one of the world's most renowned experts on Van Gogh, believes that Wheat Field and Crows is not even one of the three works mentioned by Van Gogh in this letter. He maintains that the first two works Van Gogh refers to in the quotation above are Wheatfield and Wheatfield Overcast with Clouds (I), while some other sources suggest that these two works may actually be "Wheatfield" "Wheat Field Overcast with Dark Clouds (2)" and "Crows on the Wheat Field".
Regardless of the confusion over which works were mentioned in Van Gogh's letters, Van Gogh scholar Ronald Pickwans writes in his book Van Gogh in Saint-Rémy and Auvers Dr. Halls's contention is supported by his own analysis of the earliest appearance of the painting Crows in a Wheatfield. Peake Vance believes that the painting "Crows in a Wheatfield" was completed more than three weeks before Van Gogh committed suicide, that is, between July 7 and 10.
The picture of "Crows on the Wheat Field" is extremely turbulent. The green path goes deep into the distance among the yellow wheat fields, which adds to the uneasiness and excitement. This picture everywhere reveals tension and ominous omens, as if It is a wordless book of death composed of colors and lines.
Two weeks after completing "Crows in a Wheatfield", Van Gogh committed suicide with a gun. The painting is visibly full of turmoil and unease and can clearly be seen as Van Gogh's final swan song. The road in the painting looks like outstretched hands and feet, stretching angrily into the wheat field; a group of crows suddenly flew up, as if frightened by the sound of gunshots.
"Crows on the Wheat Field" was painted in Orwell in July 1890. In this painting, Van Gogh tried to express his "sadness and extreme loneliness": through the unusually wide frame, the wheat field extended particularly wide and opened three channels in the foreground of the painting. What makes the viewer uncomfortable is that one does not know where the horizon and the end of the road actually are.
The usual interpretation is that the painting shows Van Gogh's troubled mental state with its dark, harsh sky, the hesitation of three paths leading in different directions, and the volley of black crows. Foreshadows signs of death. The artist wrote that he had painted the vast wheat fields and troubled skies of Auvers-sur-Oise in three paintings.
In the countryside around Auvers-on-Oise, the farmland is endless and undulating, attracting large flocks of crows during harvest time. This piece of farmland fascinated Van Gogh. Although his mental condition was deteriorating day by day, he still worked tirelessly to paint the vast field scenery.
In Van Gogh's works of this period, the shapes have been very simplified, and only colors and rhythms flow on the picture.
As if to highlight the unique and fertile natural conditions of Orville, the compositions of these long horizontal paintings are generally open-sided and extended land, except for the hidden place in the Daubigny garden. The scenes in other works basically have no fences or anything like that. Fields are natural things - they belong to no one, and the earth seems vast.
This work is full of violent movement. There is nothing in the wheat field. Three paths pass through the bumpy wheat field, and finally disappear into the horizon and disappear from the frame. In the sky, two dark clouds rolled and surged, as if a storm was coming.
A flock of crows flew diagonally across the screen, fleeing hastily from this restless land. The deserted fields were in turmoil, and the sky and the earth were like whirlwinds and turbulent waves. There is no trace of peace in the picture, which clearly reveals his mental state.
After Van Gogh completed this work, all he felt was fatigue and extreme emptiness. Despair consumed him. A few weeks later, he walked into the wheat field he had painted and shot himself. Although he did not die immediately, he was fatally wounded.
He struggled to return to his residence and passed away two days later.
Van Gogh was in his Orwellian period when he created this painting. During this period, Van Gogh always suspected that he would fall into a ditch with Dr. Gachet like a blind man.
On May 21, 1890, under the arrangement of his brother Theo, Van Gogh moved to Auvers on the Oise River and asked a doctor named Gachet to take care of him. . At this time his condition improved somewhat. The doctor also loves painting, so the relationship between the two has always been harmonious.
But on the surface, Orville's life was peaceful, but in Van Gogh's heart, various complex emotions and mental illnesses made him feel fearful and helpless. But he still had the urge to paint. Van Gogh was not completely desperate in his heart. He still had hope. The strong sunshine in the south captured the painter's feelings.
He is still exploring, although his use of line and color has reached near perfection. You can be sure that his mind is clear. It was not until July 27 that the old illness relapsed and he shot himself. At about 1 o'clock in the morning on the 29th, he stopped breathing under the protection of doctors Theo and Gachet.
The painting "Crows on a Wheatfield" clearly reflects his state of mind in those days. It is a common mistake to believe that this is Van Gogh's last painting, and it is even said that he was painting it. He committed suicide by drinking bullets. The reason is that it is described in the film "Love for Life". There is no evidence to support this idea, however, and Dr. Hulske's chronology of Van Gogh includes seven paintings that postdate the painting.
Of course, Van Gogh did commit suicide in the same month he painted this painting. It is generally believed that he went for a walk in the fields on the evening of July 27, 1890, shot himself with a revolver and returned home. He lay in bed and died two days later, with his brother Theo at his side.
"Crows on a Wheat Field" carries Van Gogh's hope, the hope of another kind of life. This painting shows the depressed heart of a person in desperate situation and the emotion of longing for relief. It has always been said that Van Gogh's works contain a profound sense of tragedy, strong personality and unique pursuit. To a certain extent, Van Gogh himself did not want to commit suicide, but to liberate himself according to his own subjective consciousness and the path arranged by himself.
"Wheatfield with Crows" is the path Van Gogh gave himself. We may see a tragedy that Van Gogh directed and acted, but for Van Gogh, this may not be the beautiful thing he wanted. ending.