Description
Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat is the portrait Vincent van Gogh painted in Auvers-sur-Oise in June 1890, a few weeks before his death: a young country woman in a wide yellow straw hat, a dark blue blouse dotted with orange and a cream apron, sitting with her hands in her lap in front of tall green and yellow wheat. The original measures 92 x 73 cm and is in a private collection. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 40 x 50 to 169 x 203 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.
| Title: | Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat |
| Other titles: | Young Peasant Woman with Straw Hat Sitting in the Wheat · Paysanne au chapeau de paille assise devant un champ de blé |
| Painter: | Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) |
| Year painted: | June 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise |
| Original size: | 92 cm x 73 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Post-Impressionism |
| Located at: | Private collection |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 17 sizes or made to measure |
Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat – Vincent van Gogh
What does Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat show?
A young woman sits close to us and fills almost the whole upright canvas. She wears a wide straw hat in bright yellow and orange, with a pale blue-grey ribbon tied on top. Under the brim her face is turned slightly to the left, with red cheeks, dark eyes that look down past us and dark hair gathered at the back of her neck. A small round yellow brooch closes the high collar of her blouse.
The blouse is a deep blue, almost violet, covered with small orange-red dots, with full sleeves gathered at the shoulders. Over her lap lies a long cream apron, and her two large hands rest on it, one on top of the other. Behind her rises the wheat: long green, yellow and white stalks, drawn in vertical and slanting strokes, with ears of wheat crossing each other, and between them a few round orange-red flowers.
Why does the blue blouse stand out so strongly against the wheat?
Because the colours are set against each other. The blouse is the darkest and coolest part of the painting, and almost everything around it is light and warm: the yellow hat, the cream apron, the yellow-green wheat. The orange dots on the blouse and the orange flowers in the field repeat the same warm colour on both sides of the figure, so the woman and the wheat belong together even though they are painted so differently.
The strokes do the same. The wheat is painted in long, straight lines that run from the bottom edge to the top, while the face and hands are modelled in short, curving strokes.
What does the painting mean?
Van Gogh did not leave an explanation of this canvas, and the sources do not name the woman, so the meaning lies in what is painted. Peasants and wheat run through his whole working life: Wikipedia groups his peasant character studies from 1881 to 1885 and his wheat fields from 1885 to 1890 among his main groups of works. In this portrait the two subjects meet on one canvas, a country woman and the field she belongs to.
The work is catalogued in the Van Gogh Gallery as Young Peasant Woman with Straw Hat Sitting in the Wheat, oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, Auvers-sur-Oise, late June 1890, number F 774 in the catalogue of Jacob Baart de la Faille, private collection. Van Gogh had come to Auvers in May 1890 and died there at the end of July, so it belongs to his last weeks.
Where is the original today, and how did it get there?
The original is in a private collection; it does not belong to a museum. According to the Wikipedia article on the painting, it has changed hands several times. In 1997 the American businessman Stephen Wynn paid 47.5 million US dollars for it.
On 7 October 2005 it was announced that Wynn had sold it, together with Paul Gauguin’s Bathers, to the collector Steven A. Cohen for more than 100 million dollars for the two paintings.
Which painting to choose, or to hang beside it?
Van Gogh spent his last weeks in Auvers-sur-Oise, from May to July 1890, and several of the paintings in our range come from there. Wheat Field with Crows, painted in Auvers in 1890, is a wide landscape of wheat under a dark sky. Sheaves of Wheat, also from Auvers in 1890, is a wide canvas filled with sheaves seen from close by. Portrait of Dr. Gachet, painted in June 1890, shows the doctor who looked after him there.
Portrait of a Young Peasant shows a young man, so the two can hang as a pair of country portraits. Choose Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat if you want a figure rather than a landscape, a warm yellow and blue painting in an upright format. If you want the wheat field on its own, hang one of the wheat landscapes beside it.
How is our hand-painted Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat made?
The painter first draws the figure, the curve of the hat brim, the face, the hands and the edge of the apron, and checks the proportions against the original, because in a portrait a few millimetres change the expression. Then come the wheat in long strokes, the blue blouse with its orange dots, the apron and the hat, and last the face and hands. Our oil painting reproduction is painted by hand in oil on canvas with real impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as they do in the original and catch the light.
On this painting the relief matters most in the long stalks of wheat, in the dots of the blouse and in the woven-looking straw of the hat. A print shows only a flat surface; on our painting the strokes are real.
Every painting is a hand-painted copy made for your order, so no two are quite the same.
Which size for which wall?
Short answer: 60 x 75 or 65 x 80 cm above a sideboard, a desk or a bed, 90 x 108 or 100 x 120 cm above a sofa, and 130 x 162 or 169 x 203 cm for a large or high wall. The upright format also suits a narrow wall or a hallway.
There are 17 sizes: 40 x 50, 50 x 60, 55 x 70, 60 x 75, 65 x 80, 69 x 85, 72 x 91, 80 x 100, 90 x 108, 100 x 120, 104 x 135, 113 x 146, 120 x 155, 130 x 162, 140 x 170, 149 x 180 and 169 x 203 cm (width x height). The original is 73 cm wide and 92 cm high, so our 72 x 91 cm size is within a centimetre of it and shows the woman almost exactly as large as Van Gogh painted her. With its yellow hat and green wheat it sits well on a white, cream or light grey wall, and on a soft blue one that picks up the blouse. A 40 x 50 cm size fits above a bedside table. A painting for the living room should take up about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it.
Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor, so that her face is roughly at eye level, leaving 20 to 30 cm between the furniture and the bottom edge.
What if I need a custom size or a frame?
If none of the 17 sizes fits your wall, we paint it to measure. Keep the proportions close to the original, otherwise the figure and the hat get squeezed or stretched. Send us the width and height you want and we will quote a price and a lead time. Every painting we make is stretched over a wooden stretcher and ready to hang.
For the moulding, use our 3D application: it shows each of our frame profiles on this subject, so you can compare gold, silver, black, white and natural wood – the application is for choosing the frame only. Seeing the painting on your own wall is our separate room placement service. A gold frame picks up the straw hat and the ears of wheat, and a dark wood frame deepens the blue of the blouse.
How does delivery work, and what is the guarantee?
Every painting is made to order in our studio in Slovenia, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on the size you choose. We ship it stretched and protected, framed if you chose a frame, across the EU with no customs. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work to approve, and we correct anything that is not right. Our returns policy applies to every order.
You will find more famous Van Gogh paintings among all our Vincent van Gogh paintings, and there is more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If you are giving it as a present and are not sure of the size, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original of Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat today?
In a private collection, not in a museum. Wikipedia records that the American businessman Stephen Wynn bought it in 1997, and that on 7 October 2005 his sale of it, together with Gauguin’s Bathers, to the collector Steven A. Cohen was announced. It gives the owner simply as a private collection.
When and where did Van Gogh paint Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat?
In June 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, the village north-west of Paris where he spent the last weeks of his life; the Van Gogh Gallery catalogue dates it to late June. He had arrived in Auvers in May 1890 and died there at the end of July, so the portrait is one of his last paintings.
What is the woman wearing in Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat?
A wide yellow straw hat with a pale blue-grey ribbon on top, a deep blue blouse with full sleeves covered in small orange-red dots, a round yellow brooch at the high collar and a long cream apron over her lap. Her dark hair is gathered at the back of her neck, and her large hands rest on the apron.
How much did Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat sell for?
For 47.5 million US dollars in 1997, when Stephen Wynn bought it, according to Wikipedia. In October 2005 it was announced that he had sold it, together with Paul Gauguin’s Bathers, to Steven A. Cohen for more than 100 million dollars for the two works.
How big is the original of Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat?
The original is 92 cm high and 73 cm wide, an upright format, painted in oil on canvas. Our 72 x 91 cm size is within a centimetre of it, and there are smaller and larger sizes from 40 x 50 up to 169 x 203 cm, as well as sizes painted to your own measurement.
Did Van Gogh paint more than one Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat?
Wikipedia notes that he went on to paint several versions of the subject. Titles with a young woman or girl in the wheat belong to more than one canvas, so look for the details of this one: the seated woman, the wide yellow straw hat, the blue blouse with orange dots and the cream apron. This is the 92 x 73 cm canvas we paint.
Why are the colours in Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat so strong?
Because the cool blue blouse is set against warm yellows all around it: the straw hat, the cream apron and the yellow-green wheat. The orange dots on the blouse and the round orange flowers in the field repeat one warm colour on both sides of the figure, so the woman and the wheat hold together while each stays clearly visible.
Does your Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat have the raised brushstrokes of the original?
Yes. We paint our copy in impasto: the paint goes on thickly, so the brushstrokes stand up from the canvas as on Van Gogh’s original. You see it best in the long stalks of wheat behind the woman, in the dots of her blouse and in the straw hat, where the relief catches the light and changes as you walk past the painting.
Which size of Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat suits a living room?
Above a sofa, 90 x 108 or 100 x 120 cm keeps the face at a readable size; it should take up about two thirds of the width of the sofa. For a desk or a sideboard, 60 x 75 cm works well. As a canvas painting in yellow, blue and green, it brings warm colour into a calm room.
- Subject: a young country woman in a wide yellow straw hat and a blue blouse dotted with orange, sitting in front of tall wheat.
- Original: June 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, 92 x 73 cm, private collection.
- Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 40 x 50 to 169 x 203 cm or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: our 72 x 91 cm size is within a centimetre of the original.
