1889, Vincent van Gogh, The Wheat Field behind St. Paul's Hospital, St. Rémy -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label:
Throughout the months that followed his violent falling-out with Gauguin on Christmas Eve 1888, Van Gogh exhibited acute symptoms of mental agitation and was hospitalized at frequent intervals. Feeling his creative drive diminishing, he voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in St. Rémy in May 1889. Under Gauguin's mentorship, the Dutch artist had learned to paint from memory, but now he fought against this tendency. In addition to the interpretations he made of works by Rembrandt, Delacroix, Millet, Doré, and others, he painted interior scenes of the clinic and the asylum garden and completed portraits of doctors. One of the fourteen paintings he realized during his twelve months of confinement is this view from the cell he used as a studio. "Through the iron-barred window I see a square field of wheat in an enclosure," he related in a letter to his brother, Theo, "above which I see the morning sun rising in all its glory." The muted palette is symptomatic of Van Gogh's attempt to quell the excitement he felt under the sun's illumination--an inspired sensation that ultimately overflowed into feelings of intense anguish. At the same time, he began equating color with vigorously painted lines to create an elemental landscape of dynamic, swirling forms. This compositional momentum is an iconic feature of the visionary style that Van Gogh achieved toward the end of his life.
Link to other van Gogh paintings
1889, Vincent van Gogh, The Wheat Field behind St. Paul's Hospital, St. Rémy -- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond)
From the museum label:
Throughout the months that followed his violent falling-out with Gauguin on Christmas Eve 1888, Van Gogh exhibited acute symptoms of mental agitation and was hospitalized at frequent intervals. Feeling his creative drive diminishing, he voluntarily entered the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in St. Rémy in May 1889. Under Gauguin's mentorship, the Dutch artist had learned to paint from memory, but now he fought against this tendency. In addition to the interpretations he made of works by Rembrandt, Delacroix, Millet, Doré, and others, he painted interior scenes of the clinic and the asylum garden and completed portraits of doctors. One of the fourteen paintings he realized during his twelve months of confinement is this view from the cell he used as a studio. "Through the iron-barred window I see a square field of wheat in an enclosure," he related in a letter to his brother, Theo, "above which I see the morning sun rising in all its glory." The muted palette is symptomatic of Van Gogh's attempt to quell the excitement he felt under the sun's illumination--an inspired sensation that ultimately overflowed into feelings of intense anguish. At the same time, he began equating color with vigorously painted lines to create an elemental landscape of dynamic, swirling forms. This compositional momentum is an iconic feature of the visionary style that Van Gogh achieved toward the end of his life.
Link to other van Gogh paintings