Wheat Field with Sheaves

Van Gogh's Wheat Field with Sheaves, painted at Arles in 1888 and now at the Honolulu Museum of Art, belongs to his many depictions of the Provençal harvest. The Honolulu Museum of Art's acquisition places this important work in the Pacific, far from its origins, evidence of the global dispersal of Post-Impressionist painting through the twentieth century's art market. Bound wheat sheaves standing in the field after cutting were a subject Van Gogh observed directly during the harvest season at Arles, and his treatment always combines documentary precision with chromatic heightening appropriate to his southern palette.

The sheaves are rendered as distinct forms within the stubble field, their warm wheat tones set against the cooler greens and blues of the remaining vegetation and sky. Van Gogh's characteristic directional brushwork follows the forms of both sheaves and surrounding field. The Arles light is captured in the palette's warmth throughout.