The Reaper (after Millet)

The Reaper (after Millet) depicts one of the most symbolically charged of all agricultural labours — the harvesting of grain with a scythe, a gesture whose associations with death and renewal made it an inexhaustible image for artists and writers. Van Gogh had painted his own version of a Reaper at Saint-Rémy in 1889, working from the window of his room, and had associated the figure with peaceful death. This translation after Millet returns to the same theme through the intermediary of another artist's vision, layering associations of labour, mortality, and seasonal renewal within a single image.

The sweeping arc of the scythe provides the dominant formal gesture within the composition. Van Gogh's brushwork echoes this arc in the treatment of cut grain and the figure's movement, creating a visual rhythm that runs through the entire painted surface and binds figure and landscape together.