Green Wheat Field

Van Gogh's Green Wheat Field from 1889, now in a collection with a disputed provenance history (the work passed through Göring's collection during the Nazi era), captures the vivid growth of spring wheat in the enclosed field visible from his Saint-Rémy asylum room. The intense green of growing grain was a welcome sight after the winter months, and Van Gogh rendered it with the same attentive energy he gave to the golden harvest subjects. The work's post-war history reflects the wider tragedy of Nazi art looting and its legacy for institutional collections.

The green wheat fills the composition with vivid cool color — a contrast to Van Gogh's characteristically warm palette in the Arles and Saint-Rémy periods. His brushwork follows the direction of the growing grain in rows of directional strokes. The enclosing wall and sky beyond give the composition its characteristic Saint-Rémy sense of limited but intensely observed space.