Vincent Van Gogh - Wheat Fields with Crows

Wheat Field with Crows

Wheat Field with Crows was painted in July 1890. It is commonly and mistakenly believed that this was Van Gogh's last painting, or even that he shot himself while he was painting it; this is how it was portrayed in the film Lust for Life. However there is no evidence to support this idea; and Dr Jan Hulsker's chronology gives seven works following it.

It is generally agreed that Van Gogh went for a walk in the fields on the evening of July 27, 1890, during which he shot himself with a revolver, then made his way back home. He was then in bed for two days before he died, with his brother Theo at his side.

A usual interpretation of this painting is that it shows Van Gogh's troubled state of mind with a dark, forbidding sky, the indecision of three paths going in different directions and the black crows overhead being signs of foreboding or even death. Vincent wrote that he had made three paintings in Auvers of large fields of wheat under troubled skies.

This painting is currently held at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_Field_with_Crows