Van Gogh's spirituality and intense identification with the forces of nature transformed his views of the landscape into powerful personal expressions.

This canvas was painted in the Provençal town of Saint-Rémy, as van Gogh recuperated from a nervous breakdown suffered on Christmas Eve, 1888, during Gauguin's fateful visit. It is one of four views of a walled wheat field executed in the autumn of 1889. Symbols of the artist's pantheistic beliefs, the ploughed terrain and rugged mountain peaks pulsate with a fertile inner life, charged by the picture's dynamic brushwork, rich surface texture, and varied colors.