Art Articles

Van Gogh’s The Harvest is arguably the finest landscape of his career. Dating from the summer of 1888, when Vincent was at the height of his powers in Provence, the panoramic view captures a patchwork of fields receding towards Les Alpilles (the little Alps).

Amazingly, most of The Harvest was completed in a single day, requiring great effort and concentration under the noonday sun. Vincent wrote to his brother Theo that after returning from the fields “my brain is so tired”. He explained: “One’s mind is extremely stretched, like an actor on the stage in a difficult role—where you have to think of a thousand things at the same time.” In the evening “the only thing that comforts and distracts… is to stun oneself by taking a stiff drink or smoking very heavily”.

The painting is set in the fields just to the north-east of Arles. A blue cart, awaiting another load of freshly-cut wheat, rests in the very centre of the composition. A cluster of three farm buildings sits near a track through the fields, imparting depth and harmony to the scene. The houses lead the eye to the distant tower on the hills towards the left, part of the medieval abbey of Montmajour.

The rich colours of the golden wheatfields shimmer beneath a deep turquoise sky. An Arlésienne is moving among the greenery in the nearest plot and the small figure of a reaper scythes just beyond a large stack in the middle distance. A horse and cart hurries by, while another stands close to the nearest farmhouse, where a couple are pitchforking wheat.

Van Gogh began the project with a watercolour study, which he sent to his sister Wil (and is now at Harvard Art Museums). It is interesting to note the changes introduced in the oil painting. The roof of another farmhouse half hidden behind the wheatstack on the left in the watercolour has been eliminated, presumably to avoid a distracting element. In the oil painting Van Gogh has taken a higher viewpoint overlooking the scene, almost a bird’s-eye view. The horizon is also higher in the final painting.

It is possible that Van Gogh may have captured the scene from a raised platform on a windmill in the eastern outskirts of Arles, on the edge of the plain known as La Crau. This would probably have been the Moulin de Jonquet. Although most of mill has been demolished, its base still survives in Rue Mireille.

In working on The Harvest, Van Gogh was inspired by the colours of the Provençal landscape. By this time, spring had already turned into summer: “I certainly have no less love for nature that is starting to get scorched… There’s old gold, bronze, copper in everything now… and that, with the green blue of the sky heated white-hot, produces a delightful colour.”

Back in his studio, in the Yellow House, Van Gogh set out to “adjust the workmanship a little, to harmonise the brushstrokes”. That was his way of working: to do most of a landscape painting outside, facing the scene, and then to refine it back home, making minor adjustments to the colours and brushwork.

After completing The Harvest in mid-June, Vincent laid the picture on his terracotta floor tiles, enjoying the effect of it being temporarily framed in reddish brown. This would have exaggerated the effect of the turquoise sky and the central band of green plots, set against the near complementary reddish brown colour of the floor. He presumably looked down at the painting lying on the tiles when he poured himself a drink and lit his pipe.

Pleased with the result, Vincent wrote to Theo: “On days when I bring back a study [like The Harvest] I say to myself, if it was like this every day things could work—but on days when you come home empty-handed and you eat and spend money all the same, you don’t feel content with yourself, and you feel like a madman, a scoundrel or an old fool.” Van Gogh still lived in hope that in Provence he would finally make a breakthrough and begin to sell his work.

Vincent was understandably proud of The Harvest, believing it to be the finest of his recent paintings. It “absolutely kills all the rest”, he told Theo. A month later he included it in a batch of pictures he sent to his brother in Paris (but despite his hopes, The Harvest would remain unsold, staying with his family).

Theo loved The Harvest and proudly hung it above the piano in the sitting room of his apartment. After Theo’s death in 1891 it passed to his widow Jo Bonger and their son, also named Vincent Willem (as a tribute to the artist). Twenty years later, after Jo’s marriage to the painter Johan Cohen Gosschalk, the landscape still had pride of place in the lounge of their Amsterdam apartment.

By 1949, Vincent Willem and his wife Nelly had hung the Sunflowers (August 1888) above their sofa, with The Harvest next to it. Both paintings were given modest narrow frames and casually hung on long strings. Beside them is a self-portrait (1887), perilously close to the cat on Nelly’s lap.

Later that year, The Harvest left their sitting room to travel to a major Van Gogh exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. There it was captured in a delightful painting by the artist and illustrator Edith Barry, showing visitors sporting the latest fashions of mid-century America.

Vincent Willem liked very plain narrow frames (as seen in the sofa photograph), but Barry has inserted The Harvest into an enormous and quite inappropriate yellow frame—presumably a misguided tribute to Van Gogh’s love of that colour.

Altogether, The Harvest has been lent to no fewer than 101 exhibitions in the past 100 years. The sheer number of loans not only reflects the popularity of the work, but also suggests that Van Gogh’s paintings are often reasonably robust.

Since The Harvest joined the Van Gogh Museum’s collection in 1973 loans have slowed down and it has only left Amsterdam on seven occasions. Along with the Sunflowers it is one of works which visitors expect to find on permanent display in the museum. It is now hung in a fairly simple gold frame with no ornamentation.

Having almost finished The Harvest in a day, Vincent was worried that he might be criticised for the speed at which he worked. He told Theo: “When people say they’re done too quickly you’ll be able to reply that they looked at them too quickly.”

Article by Martin Bailey from The Art Newspaper

Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, sculptor, architect, draughtsman, theorist, engineer and scientist. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo’s genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works compose a contribution to later generations of artists rivaled only by that of his younger contemporary, and fellow Florentine, Michelangelo.

Born out of wedlock to a successful notary and a lower-class woman in Vinci, he was educated by the renowned Italian painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. He began his career in Florence, and then spent much time in the service of Ludovico Sforza in Milan. Later, he worked in Florence and Milan again, as well as briefly in Rome, all while attracting a large following of imitators and students. Upon the invitation of Francis I, he spent his last three years in France, where he died in 1519. Since his death, there has not been a time where his achievements, diverse interests, personal life, and empirical thinking have failed to incite interest and admiration, making him a frequent namesake and subject in culture.

Leonardo is among the greatest painters in the history of art. Despite having many lost works and less than 25 attributed major works—including numerous unfinished works—he created some of the most influential paintings in Western art. His magnum opus, the Mona Lisa, is his best known work and often regarded as the world’s most famous painting. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time and his Vitruvian Man drawing is also regarded as a cultural icon. In 2017, Salvator Mundi, attributed in whole or part to Leonardo, was sold at auction for US$450.3 million, setting a new record for most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.

Revered for his technological ingenuity, he conceptualized flying machines, a type of armored fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, and the double hull. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or even feasible during his lifetime, as the modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance. Some of his smaller inventions, however, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire. He is also sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter, and tank. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, geology, optics, tribology, and hydrodynamics, but he did not publish his findings and they had little to no direct influence on subsequent science.

On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death, the Louvre in Paris arranged for the largest ever single exhibit of his work, called Leonardo, between November 2019 and February 2020. The exhibit includes over 100 paintings, drawings and notebooks. Eleven of the paintings that Leonardo completed in his lifetime were included. Five of these are owned by the Louvre, but the Mona Lisa was not included because it is in such great demand among general visitors to the Louvre; it remains on display in its gallery.

The Mona Lisa, considered Leonardo’s magnum opus, is often regarded as the most famous portrait ever made. The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time, and Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man drawing is also considered a cultural icon.

This is a personal selection of paintings that have a universal and lasting appeal making them the most famous paintings ever created.

1. Mona Lisa – Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci worked on his masterpiece over a period of 20 years. He carried it with him everywhere. The enigmatic smile has captured the imagination of the world. It has been stolen twice and now resides in the Louvre, Paris. When the Mona Lisa visited America in the 1960s, it gained a prominence close to that of the then US president John F Kennedy. Why do people queue up for so many hours to catch a fleeting glimpse? Perhaps because it is very human, but at the same time offering a sensation that there is something beyond. In the world, but looking beyond. Is that not a smile of supreme satisfaction? Everyone will have a different opinion, and that is part of the attraction of the painting.

2. The Scream – Edvard Munch

A painting that symbolizes the anguish and pain of modern life. It has become one of the most famous pictures of modern times. Somehow it makes me think of Freud and looking at our subconscious. It is famous, but is it good? Why look at the mud in the lily pond, when you can enjoy the lilies on top?

3. Creation of Adam – Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo

Michelangelo took four years to paint the Sistine Chapel. He chose scenes from the Old Testament. This is the moment of God creating Adam. This particular panel is just a fraction of the Sistine Chapel. To fully appreciate the scale, splendor and beauty of Michelangelo’s creation, you have to visit the Vatican.

4. Sunflowers – Vincent Van Gogh

The genius of Vincent Van Gogh is captured in this painting of 12 sunflowers. It has become one of the most recognizable of his works

5. Ceci N’est pas une Pipe – Rene Magritte

A classic example of modern surrealist art. This is not a pipe, but the picture is of a pipe. Why is this famous? We don’t really know. Somehow it became emblematic of surrealism and the paradox of modern life.

6. Poppies in a Field – Claude Monet

Claude Monet is one of the great impressionist painters. This beautiful pastoral scene encapsulates the essence of how the impressionists captured the beauty and simplicity of nature. It also captures that per-industrialist age, which was fast disappearing during Monet’s life. It is an evocation of a bye-gone era. It is hard not to feel nostalgic about this scene. Notice also how the humans are but a sideshow to the overall picture.

7. The Last Supper – Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci paints one of the most famous scenes in the Bible – The Last Supper. It is after Christ has said one of the disciples will betray him. This is the ultimate soap opera – the ultimate test of man – who will we serve, God or Mammon? This is why we are fascinated by the scene, how would we have behaved at the table of Jesus Christ?

8. The Girl With a Pearl Earring – Jan Vermeer

Jan Vermeer painted this iconic portraits (somewhat reminiscent of the Mona Lisa) and is a beautiful example of the Baroque style and the use of light. The age of the girl is deceptively hard to fathom. On the one hand, the beautiful lustrous eyes suggest the innocence of childhood. On the other hand, there are touches of a girl on the threshold of womanhood. It creates a dynamic of purity, innocence and the inevitable change of growing into womanhood.

9. Le Moulin de la Galette – Jean Renoir

A leading impressionist, Auguste Renoir captures the buzz and excitement of this outdoor scene in Paris. It is Paris at the turn of the Century – a time when Paris was a leading cultural centre of the world, but essentially a place where people were having a good time, enjoying life.

10. Peace – Picasso

The simplicity of this symbol of peace by Pablo Picasso remains one of the most powerful pieces of art. Art not just for beauty’s sake – but art for the cause of world peace.