A lone peasant in blue clothing bends forward at the center of a ploughed field, carrying a bundle of golden straw under one arm. The furrowed earth in the foreground is painted in swirling strokes of violet, ochre, and grey, giving the soil a restless, textured surface. Near the lower left, a thistle with pale pink blossoms stands out among patches of dry grass, its spiky stems rendered with quick, broken lines.

Behind the peasant, a low wall separates the field from a cluster of buildings with red and white roofs, partially screened by trees and bushes. The middle ground is a patchwork of cultivated land, trees, and garden plots, painted in a mix of olive, ochre, and green, with shifting, animated brushwork. Beyond the fields, the foothills and rocky slopes of the Alpilles rise in undulating bands of blue, grey, and violet, filling the upper half of the composition.

Above, the sky is a vibrant blue, streaked with swirling white clouds and energetic lines, echoing the movement found throughout the landscape. Painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889, Enclosed Field with Peasant shows a view near the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. He wrote to his brother Theo and to Émile Bernard in October 1889, describing the scene as a field with broken lilac ploughed earth, mountains rising behind, a thistle and dry grass in the foreground, and a peasant carrying straw. The artist described the palette as dominated by violet tones, with accents of blue-green sky, white and violet clouds, and touches of yellow.

Van Gogh considered this painting a pendant to his earlier work The Reaper, suggesting the two canvases were meant to complement each other in color and subject. The animated, hurried brushwork and intense color contrasts are characteristic of Van Gogh's late style, where movement and energy infuse every part of the scene. The painting entered the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, where it remains today.