ArtCorner

Vincent Van Gogh painted many paintings at a blistering pace especially during the last years of his life. The question which oil painting was his last one is still very much open for debate.

One theory states that his painting “Wheat Fields with Crows” was his last work of art. However, many say that is a common misconception.

Dr. Jan Hulsker in his 1996 catalogue raisonne The New Complete Van Gogh Paintings, Drawings, Sketches states:

“Because of the tendency to romanticize Van Gogh, this dramatic painting, “Wheat Field with Crows”, has often been regarded as his last work. That it must have originated in the final weeks of the Auvers period seems apparent from the fact that it depicts a field of fully ripened grain. The grain was still green in the earliest paintings from this period. Yet, as the painting with the ominous crows is not mentioned in the letters, we can only speculate about its exact date. We do know that it was not one of the two new works Vincent himself mentioned in the letter he wrote on July 23, only four days before he shot himself. These were Daubigny’s Garden and Cottages with Thatched Roofs, both of which are far more likely to have been the last paintings he made.”

In any case, shortly after making the painting with the crows, in typical Van Gogh style, Van Gogh happened to botch killing himself and lingered for quite some time before dying of blood loss or poisoning. Either way it is arguably his last. If it wasn’t, than it’s quite close to it. He only lived in Auvers for a few months before his death.

A couple of years ago my mom bought me a monthly calendar with Van Gogh paintings for each month. Of course “Wheat Fields with Crows”, was for the month of December.