Gladess E.

Vivero

BSHM2C

Art Appreciation

03 eLMS Activity 2

Analyze the following work of art through the theories given below.

Van Gogh, Harvest at La Crau, with Montmajour in the Background 1888.

1. Formalism – The painting shows the form and elements that can be found on a wheat farm in
the broad daylight. It demonstrate the vibrant color of the field with a series of wheat
harvesting under the clear blue sky. We can see a green field that is yet to be farmed in the
middle, a field that is currently being cut on the side, yellowish-green field that has grown
wheat, a golden field in the front that is yet to be harvested, and a pile of brownish wheat in the
left signifying a completely harvested field. There are also farmhouses with identical roof colors,
carts, wooden fences and ladders, small green trees, a few farmers, and the blue-green
Montmajour in the background.

2. Expressionism – You can almost feel the dryness and heat in this painting of the flat landscape
around Arles in the south of France. Van Gogh combined the azure blue the sky with yellow and
green tones for the land to capture the atmosphere of a summer’s day. He worked in the
wheatfields for days at a time under the burning sun. This was an immensely productive period,
in which he completed ten paintings and five drawings in just over a week, until a heavy storm
brought the harvest season to an end. Van Gogh wanted to show peasant life and work on the
land – a recurring theme in his art – and painted several stages of the harvest. We see a half
mowed wheatfield, ladders and several carts. A reaper works in the background, which is why
he titled the work La moisson or ‘The Harvest’. Van Gogh considered it one of his most
successful paintings, writing to his brother Theo that the ‘canvas absolutely kills all the rest’.