Sower Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Description of Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Sower

In 1888, the Dutch artist Van Gogh painted his next masterpiece of art, The Sower. The work is in oil and measures 32 x 40 cm. The Nine is kept in the Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

The artist was obsessed with peasant themes in his works. He has several different paintings with images of the sower to his credit. When painting his first canvas, Van Gogh was inspired by a canvas by Jean-François Millet. The artist portrayed a sower for a reason. His image is endowed with a universal sense and scale. The sower is the symbol of eternity. He is like a messenger of the sun to the earth. His figure seems to have descended to the field on solar steps.

In the painting, directly above the horizon line and above the golden wheat, the solar disk is depicted, creating a bright halo above the man’s head. There is something in common between the sun and the sower. The man scatters seed across the field, just as the sun spreads its rays across the sky. Only the sunlight spreads upward, while the sower’s hand points downward. In doing so, the seeds fall into the soil, and then germinate, new plants appear. Thus, the sower is a symbol of infinity. The vital continuous process of nature’s rebirth is shown.

The artist struck by the rapidity of the creation of the canvas. Van Gogh did not make a preliminary sketch. He wanted to write a picture as soon as possible, as if his thoughts were ahead of his actions. He immediately began painting in oil. Each new stroke yielded precise straight and wavy lines.

A tree appeared in the foreground, which gave the composition a flatness. A huge sun occupied most of the sky, which was colored bright yellow. The artist has given the field unusual purple and blue hues. At a time when the sky should be blue and the field yellow, it was as if he reversed everything. Van Gogh’s vision of reality is reflected in the painting.