Van Gogh Reaper Wall Art – Custom Oil Painting for Sale

Title: Wheat Field with Reaper

Artist: Vincent van Gogh

Created: 1889

Style: Post-Impressionism

Genre: Landscape Painting

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Current Location: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dimensions: 28.7 x 36.2 inches (73 x 92 cm)

Wheat Field with Reaper van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was a leading figure of the Post-Impressionist movement. In just ten years, he created over 2,000 works of art, making him one of the most outstanding artists of the 19th century. He had a deep love for life, yet faced many hardships and setbacks. He dedicated himself to his art, boldly innovating.

Drawing inspiration from great predecessors like Rembrandt and absorbing the color techniques of Impressionist painters, van Gogh developed his own unique artistic style. His works are filled with passion for life and a deep humanitarian spirit, reflecting his inner turmoil, sorrow, sympathy, and hope. However, during his lifetime, he sold only one painting.

In 1888, van Gogh moved to the south of France, to Provence, where he fell in love with the sunny landscapes and wheat fields. Within a week, he painted ten works depicting the harvest season. He wrote to his brother: "The harvest scene is very different from that of spring. Now, everything is golden and copper, and the blue-green sky is filled with a wonderful fragrance." Wheat Field with Reaper was one of the works he created during his time at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

At that time, van Gogh was primarily copying works by artists he admired, but he also created some of his own. This painting is one of those original creations.

The scene in the painting is striking: the sun is large like a golden yolk, the sky tinged with green, and the hills are a deep blue, sloping from low to high. A few modest houses sit scattered on the land, and vast golden wheat fields stretch out. The wheat sways in the wind, symbolizing a bountiful harvest, but there is only one person in the field, wielding a sickle to reap.

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close up of van gogh brush strokes painting

For van Gogh, the landscape was so beautiful, yet it seemed as though only he was able to truly appreciate it.

This painting represents van Gogh’s abstract style, with simple brushstrokes—straight lines, dots, and circles. The reaper, even though somewhat awkward in appearance, is set against a backdrop of intense colors. The golden waves of wheat are stunning, the blue hills stretch endlessly, and the sun at the top of the painting echoes the wheat fields below. The entire composition exudes a bittersweet beauty.

Van Gogh saw “the shadow of death” in the reaper. In a certain sense, humanity is like the wheat being harvested—living, yet ultimately reaped when the time comes. However, this death is not sorrowful. It happens in broad daylight, when the sun bathes the earth in golden light.

If you're unsure about what representational painting is, here's how it differs from abstract art.

The Reaper (After Millet)

Artist: Vincent Willem van Gogh

Title: The Reaper (After Millet)

Dimensions: 17.0 x 9.6 inches (43.3 x 24.3 cm)

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Location: Private Collection

Creation Year: 1889

In 1889, the year before his death, Vincent van Gogh created a series of works titled Les Pravaux des Champs (Laborers in the Fields) in Saint-Rémy, a tribute to the French artist Jean-François Millet. Despite suffering from mental health issues in the final stage of his life, van Gogh’s expressive use of color remained unmistakable. This series consists of ten works, three of which are privately owned, while the other seven are housed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

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Beneath a cobalt-blue sky, a sickle sweeps through the golden sea of wheat. This image of a French southern farmer harvesting crops appears in van Gogh’s painting, with exaggerated blues and vibrant yellows—colors van Gogh pioneered in his expressive style. The laborer is positioned at the center of the composition, almost like a hero, reflecting van Gogh’s deep admiration for labor and nature, as well as his emotional projection onto the working class.

The story of van Gogh in Saint-Rémy is well-known. He had suffered from mental illness twice before: the first episode occurred on Christmas Day in 1888, when he cut off his own ear; the second came in February 1889, and by May, he entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy. Here, he experienced a relatively calm period. His works began to feature the asylum's garden and distant wheat fields, suggesting some improvement.

However, by mid-July, his condition worsened again, and he was confined to his room. Remarkably, six weeks later, he returned with extraordinary creativity. By mid-September, he had completed at least eighteen paintings. As Jan Hulsker wrote, "When we examine van Gogh’s creative timeline, we encounter a mystery—the quantity and quality of the works he produced after recovering are truly remarkable."

Van Gogh's The Reaper was completed during this period. At the beginning of his recovery, his focus shifted to Millet’s works. The series by Millet, created in 1852, featured ten images of harvesters and was published in magazines.

In a letter to his brother Theo in September 1889, van Gogh mentioned that he had seven copies of Millet’s ten works and would use them as inspiration for his own paintings. "My brush is between my fingers, like a bow on a violin," van Gogh excitedly wrote.

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Van Gogh Reaper Wall Art – Custom Oil Painting

At KelorArt, we offer custom oil paintings, including high-quality reproductions of famous works by renowned artists. Whether it's Van Gogh's iconic "Reaper" or other timeless masterpieces, we can carefully recreate every brushstroke and color, bringing the beauty of art into your living space.

If you're looking to add a unique artistic touch to your walls or have a specific custom design in mind, we can create a one-of-a-kind piece just for you. Contact us today！