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A Life Full Of StrokesVincent Van Gogh was the pioneer of Expressionism, a new trend that was developed in the 20 th century art.
Van Gogh had lived a life full of sufferings, and so most of his paintings were reflections of the emotions he carried throughout his life. Being named after his dead brother, Vincent's childhood carried the gloominess of the death. Added to that was the financial suffering he faced in his later life. He was abandoned by all loved ones, except his one brother, Theo, who stood with him till the end irrespective of the insults he faced being the brother of an insane
Van Gogh spent his last days in Auvers- sur-Oise, a small village in north
Paris, and he was so influenced by the landscape of the cornfields and the cottages
there that many of his paintings had the reflections of this beautiful village.
He created six paintings under the theme 'Wheat Fields'. These include 'Wheat
Field Under Clouded Sky', 'Wheat Field With Cornflowers', 'Wheat Field With
Crows', 'Wheat Fields', 'Wheat Fields at Auvers Under Clouded Sky', and 'Wheat
Fields with Auvers in the Background'. Many have argued 'Wheat Field With Crows'
as the last work of Van Gogh. However, there is an alternate argument about
the last 'Daubigny's Garden', the third under the same title, as his last work.
There are more reasons to consider 'Wheat Field With Crows' as Van Gogh's last
work. The thick pasture in the painting that was dominated by heavy yellow strokes,
according to the experts, reflected the most turbulent state of an insane artist,
just before he committed suicide.
The whirly patterns that were seen in most of these paintings can be considered
as the best connotations of a genius mind rather than an insane mind. In some
of these last paintings, such as the 'Wheat Fields', 'Wheat Fields With Auvers
In The Background', and 'Wheat Fields At Auvers Under Clouded Sky', the heavy
yellow and blue strokes were replaced by pale greenish blue and gray, indicating
the shades of death.
On July 27, 1890, at the age of 37 years, he went to the field and shot himself
to free himself from all the miseries of life. He succumbed to the wounds after
two days. In his last moments, he uttered to Theo, "Sadness will last forever". |
