This monumental landscape was long considered the last work Van Gogh painted. The menacing, stormy sky, the crows and a path apparently leading nowhere have all been read as hints of his suicide. In reality, he completed several more paintings after this one. What’s more, Van Gogh was seeking to express something positive and comforting in this work: the overpowering gloom emphasizes the grandeur and magnificence of the landscape.
Van Gogh used powerful colour combinations for Wheatfield with Crows: the blue sky contrasts with the yellow-orange of the wheat, while the red of the path is intensified by the green bands of grass. The brushwork creates a powerful sense of dynamism, which is further heightened by the crows taking flight.
Van Gogh predicted in 1888 that ‘But the painter of the future is a colourist such as there hasn’t been before.’. He turned out to be that painter himself, showing the way forward to new generations of artists. Colour had become his pre-eminent means of expression, and it was through this aspect of his work that he made an essential contribution to the modernization of art.