The Reaper (after Millet) Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

A description of Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Reaper

The painting was painted in 1889. At first glance it looks very simple and unpretentious. It depicts a man using a scythe to mow wheat in a field, with his back turned to the viewer. There are no small objects or particularly elaborate details. Above him is a bright blue sky, and the painting itself seems hastily drawn, if not by a child, rather than by a great artist. But it’s not as simple as it seems at first glance. First of all, the artist had his own, sinister view of both the hero of his painting and the meaning it carried.

According to him, the painting depicts more than just a reaper. He represents to himself in the form of death itself. The very one for whom the bread that the reaper gathers in the painting is human lives. At the same time Van Gogh personifies death in such a way that nothing sad can be seen - everything is flooded with bright rays of gold. This interpretation of the painting even sounds quite ominous. At the same time, the picture is painted in warm yellow tones, and the sky looks bright enough, nothing at all to suggest that the man in the straw yellow hat and slippers is death itself. Somewhere in the distance, closer to the horizon, stand the trees, the greens of which are already fading under the hot sun.

The hero himself is dressed in yellow pants and the same vest, with a blue shirt underneath. On his head he has a straw or yellow cloth hat, which tries to shelter him from the sun’s rays. He wields a scythe skillfully, and his tools stick out from behind his belt. He takes his time, mowing the wheat spikes step by step.