The Reaper (after Millet) — History & Facts
A solitary man bends low in a wheat field, gripping a sickle in both hands as he harvests the golden stalks at his feet. His body, dressed in a vivid blue garment with deep green shadows, forms a strong diagonal across the foreground, his face turned down in concentration. The wheat rises dense and tall behind him, rendered in thick, energetic strokes of ochre, olive, and brown, their vertical lines echoing the man's posture.
Above the field, the sky is alive with swirling touches of pale yellow, pink, and lavender, creating a restless, almost vibrating atmosphere. The light falls from above and slightly to the left, catching the man's hair and the folds of his sleeve, while casting subtle shadows along his back and the ground. The brushwork is bold and visible throughout, with thick, impasto lines defining the man's figure and the wheat, while the sky is built from shorter, more broken strokes.
Every contour of the man's body is outlined with a dark, emphatic line, lending a sense of weight and immediacy to his presence. The composition is tightly cropped, focusing attention on the act of reaping and the physical effort involved, with no horizon visible. Small details, such as the man's green shoes and the curved blade of the sickle, are picked out with swift, expressive marks.
The upper right and left corners of the painting are filled with dense, textured brushstrokes that blend into the wheat and sky, creating a sense of movement at the edges. The lightest area of the painting appears in the top center, where pale yellow and cream tones are thickly applied, contrasting with the darker wheat below. Along the lower edge, streaks of green and blue paint intermingle with the yellow ground, suggesting shadows and adding depth to the foreground. The subject is a reaper at work in a field of Triticum, the wheat rendered with the same intensity and movement as the figure himself.
Sources: Van Gogh Museum, record s0198V1962 · Wikidata Q19836224 · Image source (Wikimedia Commons)
More Artworks by Vincent van Gogh

The Starry Night
Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh's Chair
Vincent van Gogh

The Night Café
Vincent van Gogh

Café Terrace at Night
Vincent van Gogh

Almond Blossom
Vincent van Gogh

Flowering Garden
Vincent van Gogh

A Wheatfield, with Cypresses
Vincent van Gogh

Orchard in Blossom (Plum Trees)
Vincent van Gogh

Snowy Landscape with Arles in the Background
Vincent van Gogh

The Red Vineyard
Vincent van Gogh
More Genre Scene Art

Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard
Frans Hals

Rembrandt and Saskia in the Scene of the Prodigal Son
Rembrandt van Rijn

Bal du moulin de la Galette
Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Quadrille at the Moulin Rouge
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

A Burial at Ornans
Gustave Courbet

When Will You Marry?
Paul Gauguin
