Wheat Field Behind Saint-Paul Hospital with a Reaper

Painted from his room at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Wheat Field Behind Saint-Paul Hospital with a Reaper (1889) is one of Vincent van Gogh’s most symbolic and emotionally charged landscapes. The painting depicts a lone reaper working in a golden wheat field beneath a radiant, swirling sky—an image Van Gogh described as representing death not with fear, but as the natural harvesting of life.

With expressive brushwork and a luminous palette of yellows and blues, the scene pulses with energy and spiritual resonance. The reaper, nearly absorbed by the landscape, becomes part of the eternal cycle of nature. This work exemplifies Van Gogh’s ability to transform a simple rural view into a profound meditation on life, death, and renewal.