Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890)
Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant)
1889
Oil on canvas, 30 x 37-1/2 in.
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis
Van Gogh‘s spirituality and intense identification with the forces of nature transformed his views of the landscape into powerful personal expressions. Symbols of the artist’s pantheistic beliefs, the ploughed terrain and rugged mountain peaks pulsate with a fertile inner life, charged by the picture’s dynamic brushwork, rich surface texture, and varied colors.
This canvas was painted in the Provençal town of Saint-Rémy, as Van Gogh recuperated from a nervous breakdown suffered on Christmas Eve, 1888, during Gauguin‘s fateful visit. It is one of four views of a walled wheat field executed in the autumn of 1889. (IMA)