Wheatfield with Crows is one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings.

It is often claimed
that this was his very last work. The menacing sky, the crows and the dead-end path
are said to refer to the end of his life approaching. But that is just a persistent myth. In
fact, he made several other works after this one. Van Gogh did want his wheat fields
under stormy skies to express 'sadness, extreme loneliness', but at the same time he
wanted to show what he considered 'healthy and fortifying about the countryside'.

He used powerful color combinations in this painting: the blue-sky contrasts with the
yellow-orange wheat, while the red of the path is intensified by the green bands of
grass.
Wheat Field with Crows, by Vincent van Gogh, exhibits a dark nature, inviting many to
interpret this artwork as a symbolic end to the artist's life. It was painted just weeks
before his suicide in July, 1890 during van Gogh's Auvers period - referencing the ten
week long period of time between his stay at the asylum in Saint Remy's and his death
in the small town of Auvers-sur-Oise. By this point in Vincent van Gogh's life, he had
fully mastered his personalized style of painting, creating at least 70 paintings usually
representational of the nature surrounding him - such as cypress trees, wheat fields,
and various buildings in Auvers-sur-Oise. Timothy Standling, the curator of the Denver
Museum of Art, says “he drew as he painted and painted as he drew.” This was a
technique particular to Vincent van Gogh. Inspired by his natural surroundings, van
Gogh merged his use of color and line in Wheat Fields with Crows by incorporating
intense vivid colors with his use of thickly painted, unpredictable yet strategically placed,
brushstrokes portraying an imagined, idealized landscape.
Similar to many of the van Gogh’s paintings completed close to the end of his life,
Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Field with Crows is a representational painting depicting
nature around him. This piece is showing the wheat fields surrounding the graveyard of
the Church in Auvers-sur-Oise - the graveyard where both van Gogh and his brother,
Theo, were buried. The artist shows his interpretation of the wheat field on a stormy
day, with three paths converging in the center of the painting's foreground. The center
path disappears into the distance with an “abrupt termination” on its way to the horizon,
creating a true sense of depth, while the other two ...

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...eath,” come down to pick up the wheat that has fallen on the ground. Lastly, many
believe the abrupt ending to the middle of the three paths could refer to the
premeditated ending of his life.
Vincent van Gogh’s development in stylized representations of nature, created by the
application of dark colors, bold lines, and thick paint all show an expressionistic view of
the natural world as seen through the eyes of the artist. While we will never find a
definite answer for whether or not Vincent van Gogh intended for Wheat Fields with
Crows to be any indication of his suicide, we continue to draw on conclusions of what
this painting really meant. Even though we can say with certainty that this was not
Vincent van Gogh’s last painting, the subject matter and formal elements suggest that it
probably was - intended or not - some indication of van Gogh’s unhappiness.

Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch painter in the nineteenth century, known for expressing
imagination and emotion through the use of vivid colors in a post-impressionist style.
His painting Wheatfield with Crows, or Krorenveld met Kraaien in Dutch, is suggested to
be Van Gogh’s last painting before his alleged suicide that also occurred in 1890.
Wheatfield with Crows is a dramatic landscape painting with a dark sky and yellow
wheat. A winding road curls from the foreground of the painting, and appears to be cut
off, leading to nowhere. It is unclear where the path originates as well, but it is
composed to complementary colors. Above the fields flies a murder of crows, moving
further into the dark blue sky. The large number of crows is slightly overwhelming and
concerning; a viewer might wonder where they came from, or where they are going.
Like most of Van Gogh’s art, the painting is oil on canvas. He used an elongated
double-square canvas, which draws out the vastness of the fields; this is said to
symbolize Van Gogh’s isolation and loneliness late in his life.[i] I agree with the present
argument that Wheatfield with Crows was Van Gogh’s final painting is difficult to prove
but easy to believe; given that wheatfields were Van Gogh’s only view from inside of his
asylum room at Saint-Remy,[ii] such a painting shows isolation, sadness, and
hopelessness as the path through the wheatfields, surrounded by crows, abruptly ends.

Van Gogh led a sorrowful life up until his death, and his paintings, specifically
Wheatfield with Crows, didn’t fall short in displaying his suffrage. I think the subject
matter of the painting and the subtleties that Van Gogh chose to include are relevant to
the time when he painted, specifically during his stay at Saint-Remy and during a bout
of mental illness. The skies appear turbulent and brewing, suggesting a storm or other
disaster will most likely occur in the future. Crows commonly symbolize death or rebirth,
and the sheer amount of crows present in Wheatfield with Crows cannot be ignored.
The road, however, is the most significant aspect of the painting as it winds and
disappears. Van Gogh analyst Kathleen Erickson suggests the road to be a
representation of one of Van Gogh’s sermons that references Bunyan’s “Pilgrim
Progress,” a tale of a sorrowful a long road that should not be feared as the “Eternal
City waits at the journey’s end.”[iii]
To further support the claim that Wheatfield with Crows symbolizes the last few months
of Van Gogh’s life, letters from Van Gogh to his brother Theo about the use of
wheatfields have been recovered. One letter stated, “[The paintings] depict vast,
distended wheatfields under angry skies, and I deliberately tried to express sadness
and extreme loneliness in them.”[iv] However, no letters were written during the exact
time that this particular painting was completed, and Van Gogh’s state of mind will never
truly be known. Some say that Van Gogh was too depressed to write, but well enough
to paint.[v] This further exhibits the despair that is present in the painting. Viewing this
painting in person at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam evokes deep feelings and
sympathy for Van Gogh. I realized that, firstly, the painting is not large in size or grand
in appearance, and could easily be overlooked. I could almost feel Van Gogh’s attempt
to paint the view from his window at the asylum, only for the painting to take a dark turn
with the addition of crows and cut off road, figments of Van Gogh’s own troubled
imagination.

Although there is no proof as to whether Wheatfield with Crows is in fact Van Gogh’s
last work of art, one can still draw the conclusion that the piece was created during a
very dark and isolated time. The suspected suicide’s occurrence in a wheatfield is
another indication of their significance as the end of Van Gogh’s life. I would encourage
anyone looking to investigate the end of Van Gogh’s life to pay close attention to
Wheatfield with Crows. Not only does the painting provide insight on Van Gogh’s final
months, but also the skill involved and emotions presented through the sky and winding
path are representations of Van Gogh’s life work as a whole. Van Gogh’s legacy lives
on through his final pieces, despite how his hardship and despair might be presented
through them.