Farmhouse in Provence.

• Author: Bruce, Ailsa Mellon
• Position: Vincent Van Gogh - Brief Article

Vincent Van Gogh painted this farmhouse near Aries in 1888. He wrote that his studies of provencal wheatfields were "done quickly, quickly, quickly, and in a hurry just like the harvester who is silent under the blazing sun, intent only on the reaping." But there is nothing slapdash in such work: Van Gogh explained that his wheatfield paintings were "calculated long beforehand."

He could have said the same of the reaping--and of traditional farming in general. Such farming may look like something done "in a hurry," but the bond between the reaper and the field has been a long...