Ears of Wheat

For this painting, Van Gogh must have stood in the middle of a wheatfield. He 'zoomed in' on the plants with their waving leaves and heavy stalks. The green sea of wheat is interrupted by a blue cornflower in the upper left and the pink bindweed in the lower right.

Van Gogh described this decorative painting to his friend, the artist Paul Gauguin, as follows: 'nothing more than ears of wheat, green-blue stalks, long, ribbon-like leaves, under a sheen of green and pink; ears of wheat, yellowing slightly, with an edge made pale pink by the dusty manner of flowering.' The colours were supposed to evoke 'the soft rustle of the ears of grain swaying back and forth in the wind.'