Wheat Fields with Reaper, Auvers

Artist Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890)

Place of OriginAuvers-sur-Oise, France

Date1890

DimensionsPainting: 29 x 36 5/8 in. (73.6 x 93 cm)
Framed: 38 3/4 x 46 1/2 x 5 in. (98.4 x 118.1 x 12.7 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1935.4

On View

Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion (2444 Monroe Street), Glass Study Room GP

Collections

Paintings

Published References

De la Faille, J. B., L'oeuvre de Vincent van Gogh, 1st ed., Brussels, 1928, I, no. 559; II, pl. CLIV.

L'Amour De L'Art, VI, 4, 1934, repr.

Art Digest, VIII, June 1934, p. 19, repr.

Denis, M., "L'epoque du symbolisme," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XI, Mar. 1934, p. 172, fig. 7.

Rich, Daniel Catton, Catalogue of A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 1934: the Art Institute of Chicago, June 1 to November 1, 1934, Chicago, Lakeside Press, R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co, 1934, no. 316, repr. pl. XLVIII.

Art News, XXXIII, February 16, 1935, p. 8, repr.

Beaux-Arts, Part 6, March 15, 1935, repr.

Scherjon, W. and J. de Gruyter, Vincent van Gogh's Great Period, Amsterdam, 1937, p. 76, no. 47, repr.

Godwin, Blake-More, European Paintings in the Toledo Museum, 1939, pp. 250, 251, repr.

Artists Unappreciated in Their Day, Toledo Museum of Art, 1939, no. 24, repr.

Derkert, C., H. Eklund, and O. Reutersvärd, "Van Gogh's Landscape with Corn Shocks," Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, XV, Dec. 1946, pp. 121-133, figs. 1, 3a, 4a.

Two Cities Collect: catalogue of an exhibition held in Toronto in January and Toledo in April 1948, Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, 1948, no. 32, repr.

Work by Vincent van Gogh: catalogue of a loan exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art, November 3 through December 12 1948, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1948, no. 8, pl. VIII.

Nordenfalk, C., The Life and Work of Van Gogh, New York, 1953, p. 179.

The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, Greenwich (CN), 1959, II, no. 501, p. 591.

Sutton, Denys, "Nineteenth-Century Painting; Trends and Cross-Currents," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 492, repr. fig. 29, p. 494.

Lee, Katharine C., "French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism," Toledo Museum News, vol. 12, no. 3, Autumn 1969, p. 80, repr.

De la Faille, J. B., The Works of Vincent van Gogh: His Paintings and Drawings, 3rd ed., Amsterdam, 1970, pp. 236, 633, 666, no. F559, repr.

Lecaldano, P., L'opera pittorica completa di Van Gogh, Milan, 1971, no. 527, repr.

Lassaigne, Jacques, Vincent van Gogh, Milan, 1972, p. 77, repr.

The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 63, 64, pl. 176.

Hulsker, Jan, The Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, New York, 1977, no. 1479, p. 337, repr.

Post-Impressionism, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1980, no. 73, p. 68, repr.

Lee, Thomas Courtney, "Van Gogh's Vision: Digitalis Intoxication?" Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 245, no. 7, Feb. 20, 1981, p. 729, repr. (col.).

Ravin, James G., "Van Gogh's Illness," The Ohio State Medical Journal, vol. 77, no. 12, Dec. 1981, p. 701, repr.

A Profile of the East Building: Ten Years at the National Gallery of Art 1978-1988, Washington, 1989, pp. 125, repr. (col.) (MC).

Walther, Ingo F. and Rainer Metzger, Vincent van Gogh, samtliche Gemalde, vol. II, Cologne, 1989, pp. 372, repr. (col.).

Wheldon, Keith, Van Gogh, London, 1989, pp. 100-101, repr. (col.).

Gerstein, Marc, Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums, New York, Hudson Hills Press, 1989, no. 40, p. 102, repr. (col.).

Lucas, Eileen, Vincent van Gogh, New York, 1991, p. 37, repr. (col.).

Kodera, Tsukasa, The Mythology of Vincent Van Gogh, Tokyo, 1993, pp. 285, 307, no. 39, p. 289, fig. 174 (col.).

Thomson, Richard, Monet to Matisse, Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, 1994, p. 159, fig. 246 (col.).

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 143, repr. (col.).

Arnold, Matthias, Vincent van Gogh: werk und wirking, Munich, 1995, p. 550, Abb. 325 (col.).

Millet/Van Gogh, Paris, Editions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1998, no. 23, p. 52, repr. p. 63 (col.).

Hulsker, Jan, The New Complete Van Gogh: Paintings, Drawings, Sketches, Amsterdam, 1999, no. 1479, repr. p. 337 [as Wheat Field with Sheaves and Mower].

Koldehoff, Stefan, "Vincent und die Wissenschaft," Art (Das Kunstmagazin), no. 6, June 1999, p. 80, repr. (col.)

Taylor, Bradley L., "The Effect of Surrogation on Viewer Response to Expressional Qualities in Works of Art," unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 2001, pp. 116-117, pl. L4, p. 181.

Southgate, M. Therese, "The Cover," Jama, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol., 286, no. 5, Aug. 1, 2001, p. 507, repr. on cover (col.).

McMaster, Julie A., The Enduring Legacy: A Pictorial History of the Toledo Museum of Art, Warren, OH, Superior Printing, 2001, p. 29, repr. (col.).

Beheydt, Ludo, Eén en toch apart: kunst en cultuur van de Nederlanden, Leuven, Davidsfonds, 2002, p. 259, repr. (col.).

Herzogenrath, Wulf, ed., Van Gogh: Fields, "the Field with Poppies" and the Artist's Dispute, Ostfildern-Ruit, Hatje Cantz, 2002, no. 48, pp. 50, 140, repr. (col.) p. 51, (col.) p. 141.

Hansen, Dorothee, Lawrence W. Nichols, and Judy Sund, Van Gogh: Fields, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2003, no. 26, pp. 88-89 repr. (col.).

Cavalli-Björkman, Görel, Falskt & Äkta, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 2004, pp. 143-144, repr. p. 145, fig. 2 (col.).

Gauguin/Van Gogh: l'adventura del colore nuovo, Congeliano, Linea d'ombra Libri, 2005, p. 18, repr.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 43, repr. (col.) and (det.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 275, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 43, repr. (col.).

Veen, Wouter van der, and Peter Knapp, Vincent Van Gogh a Auvers, Paris, Chene, 2009, p. 232, repr. p. 233, (col.).

Feilchenfeldt, Walter, Vincent van Gogh die Gemalde 1886-1890; Handler, Sammler, Ausstellungen; die fruhen Provenienzen, German ed., Wadenswil Nimbus. Kunst und Bucher AG, 2009.

Dumas, Ann, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2010, no. 121, pp. 218,-219, repr. (col.).

Rathbone, Eliza, William H. Robinson, Elizabeth Steele, and Marcia Steele, Van Gogh Repetitions, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2013, pp. 163-168, repr. (detail) p. 162, repr. (col.) p. 164.

Feilchenfeldt, Walter, Vincent Van Gogh: The Years in France, Complete Paintings 1886-1890, dealers, collectors, exhibitions, provenance, English ed., London, Philip Wilson, 2013, p. 277, repr. (col.).

Kendall, Richard, et al., Van Gogh and Nature, Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2015, p. 216, repr. (col.) p. 217, fig. 184.

Taft Museum of Art, Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape, Scotland, Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland, 2015, p. 117, repr. (col.), p. 121, fig. 115.

Coquery, Emmanuel ed., Vincent van Gogh: les dernières lettres,/i>, France, Hazan, 2023, repr. p. 95.

L'objet d'art , "Van Gogh a Auvers-sur-Oise, Les Derniers Mois", repr. (col.) p. 9.

Exhibition History

Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Van Gogh, 1901.

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Vincent van Gogh, 1905, no. 106.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles Museum, Five Centuries of European Painting, 1933, no. 51.

Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Century of Progress, June 1-Nov. 1, 1934.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, 1934, no. 26.

Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Van Gogh Exhibition, 1936.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Artists Unappreciated in Their Day, Nov. 5-Dec. 10, 1939.

Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Impressionist Painting, 1940.

New York, Paul Rosenberg, Masterpieces by Van Gogh, 1942, no. 6.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Modern Dutch Art, 1943.

Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, Loan Exhibition of Great Paintings, 1944.

Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto; Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Two Cities Collect, Toronto in January 1948 and Toledo in April 1948, no. 32, repr.

New York, Wildenstein, Art and Life of Vincent van Gogh, 1948, no. 41.

Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Work by Vincent van Gogh, Nov. 3-Dec. 12, 1948.

Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Van Gogh and Modern Painting, 1951.

Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Illustrating the Development of Landscape in Europe from the Fifteenth Century to the Present, 1952.

Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, Art Gallery Week, Sept.-Oct. 1956.

Washington, National Gallery of Art, Post-Impressionism, May 25-Sept. 1, 1980.

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art; Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, et al. Impressionism: Selections from Five American Museums, 1989-1990.

Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Monet to Matisse, Aug. 11-Oct. 23, 1994.

Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Millet/Van Gogh, Sept. 14, 1998-Jan. 3, 1999.

Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, Van Gogh: Felder das Mohnfeld und der Künstlerstreit, Nov. 19, 2002-Jan 26, 2003.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Van Gogh: Fields, February 23- May 18, 2003.

London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters, Jan. 23 - April 18, 2010.

Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Van Gogh Repetitions, March 2-May 26, 2014, no. 30.

Williamstown, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Van Gogh and Nature, June 14-Sept. 13, 2015, no. 48.

Cincinnati, Taft Museum of Art,Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape, Feb. 20-May 29, 2016.

Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Van Gogh in America, October, 2, 2022-January 22, 2022. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Van Gogh Museum; Paris, Franch, Musee D'Orsay, Van Gogh and Auvers, May 12, 2023 - January 28, 2024.

Label TextVincent van Gogh was fascinated by the vast fields of wheat that stretched above Auvers-sur-Oise, a town north of Paris where he lived the last two months of his life. He painted many views of these fields, including this landscape with a reaper cutting the golden grain while the stacked sheaves recede toward a village and the distant blue hills. For Van Gogh, the reaper was sometimes a biblical metaphor of the final harvest when mankind will be reaped like ripe wheat. “But,” he wrote to his brother Theo in 1889, “there’s nothing sad in this death, it goes its way in broad daylight with a sun flooding everything with a light of pure gold…It is an image of death as the great book of nature speaks of it.” Though inspired by the observation of his immediate surroundings, Van Gogh was not interested in mimicking what he saw. As he wrote in 1888 to Theo, “Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more arbitrarily, to express myself more forcibly.” His thick, sculptural brushstrokes add to this forceful expression.