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Primary sourcePainting1889

Wheat Field with Cypresses

Vincent van Gogh · 1889

One of three similar 1889 paintings Van Gogh made of a wheat field and cypress tree seen from the asylum at Saint-Rémy, which he considered among his best summer work.

Painted by Van Gogh at the asylum in Saint-Rémy, a landscape he considered among his finest summer works.

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Painting of a golden wheat field in the foreground with swirling blue and white clouds above. A tall dark green cypress tree stands at right, with another cypress nearby, bushes and a green olive-like tree at left, and blue mountains in the distance.
Vincent van Gogh, Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

About this source

What it is

This oil painting is one of three similar versions of Wheat Field with Cypresses, painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889 while he was a voluntary patient at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum near Arles. The scene is based on the view from his window toward the Alpilles mountains.

Why it matters

Van Gogh made this painting shortly after completing The Starry Night, during a period when he was fascinated by cypress trees. In a letter to his brother Theo, he described the canvas in detail and called it one of his best summer paintings. The different versions, painted outdoors and later in the studio, show how he reworked the same subject to refine color and composition even while managing serious mental illness.

Look closer

  • What effect do the swirling clouds and tall cypress have on the mood of the landscape?
  • Why might van Gogh have painted the same view more than once?
  • What does his own letter description add that the painting alone cannot tell us?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Vincent van Gogh on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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