Vincent Van Gogh's Ominous Wheatfield With Crows Intrigues...

Vincent Van Gogh's Wheatfield With Crows is, in my unschooled opinion, one of Van Gogh's lesser known pieces. I myself only recently discovered it in the summer of 2009 when I was privileged to spend two days in Amsterdam and visited the Van Gogh Museum. I was familiar with some of Van Gogh's more popular works, not because I know much about art but because they inundate our society. Pause for a moment and think of the Van Gogh works you are familiar with. They include his Sunflowers, Night Caf, Yellow House, Starry Night and Irises, all of which appear on everything from t-shirts and mugs to calendars.

The Wheatfield with Crows painting apparently does, too, albeit to a lesser degree and I expect that is why I was unfamiliar with it. Coming face-to-face with it in Amsterdam was my introduction and sparked a desire in me to learn a bit more about this slightly eerie, somewhat ominous and definitely thought-provoking masterpiece. Let me, on this page, introduce YOU to Wheatfield With Crows and we will see what you think of it afterward.

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Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter who lived between the years of 1853 and 1890. His works still have considerable influence because of their color and emotion. Van Gogh suffered from both mental illness and anxiety and committed suicide at the age of 37, with his artistic talent still mostly unknown.

People interpret Vincent Van Gogh's July 1890 Wheatfield With Crows as representing his troubled state of mind shortly before his death. They take that dark sky, choice of path direction and the crows circling as signs of darkness or death. It is often thought to be Vincent Van Gogh's last painting, although this fact has never been proven.

Van Gogh painted three 50 by 100 centimeter wheatfields at Auvers. Of two of them he said, "They depict vast, distended wheatfields under angry skies, and I deliberately tried to express sadness and extreme loneliness in them." and "I am almost certain that these canvases illustrate what I cannot express in words, that is, how healthy and reassuring I find the countryside." It is unsure if those sentiments also applied to the Wheatfield With Crows.

• THE PATHS: The paths seen in the painting are sometimes seen to reflect choices. Choices to Van Gogh's past and to the future. They are also interpreted as an indication of the confusion regarding the direction of his life and, in particular the middle path, has raised the questions of whether or not it actually leads anywhere or whether it simply leads to the end.
  
  
• THE SKY: Van Gogh often depicted the sky as stormy. He was respectful of nature and found storms liberating. Storms, he felt, were an important part of nature.
  
  
• THE CROWS: A powerful part of The Wheat Field With Crows is, of course, the crows. There has been a lot of symbolism involved and a lot of debate about whether or not the crows are flying to or away from Van Gogh. That makes a difference, of course, as to how you perceive them. Are they a threat or not? The VG Gallery feels that this debate is unimportant. First, they feel that since it is impossible to prove which way the crows are going, it is irrelevant and second, they feel that Van Gogh generally celebrated nature and so would not have found the crows to be a threat.

Do you or someone you know love Vincent Van Gogh's Wheatfield With Crows? If so, you'll really enjoy this ringer coffee mug which features this wonderful work of art by Van Gogh.

Read more about Vincent Van Gogh's life and artwork. This film chooses to focus in on his life, his work and the locations at which he created his pieces. Unlike many other films about this artist, it does not focus on his illness. Typical of most Imax documentaries, it is a beautiful if somewhat short presentation, perfect for anyone wanting to visit the locations of Vincent Van Gogh's famous artworks.

Published in part by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book shares information about Vincent Van Gogh's life and paintings. It discusses his surroundings and others who had influence upon him; deals with 12 of his important paintings pictures ranging from the Potato Eaters to the very ominous Crows over a Wheatfield; and covers the different types of pictures that Van Gogh painted including portraits, interiors, florals and landscapes. It also talks about his painting techniques and choices of color. This is a handsome, hardcover book that you will treasure forever. It is a young adult book, perfect for someone like you and I who wants to learn a bit more about Van Gogh and who does not already have a lot of knowledge about the painter.