Vincent van Gogh – The Sower

The Sower is the painting Vincent van Gogh made in Arles in November 1888: a peasant in dark blue strides across a violet field, a thick tree trunk cuts diagonally across the canvas, and behind his head an immense yellow sun hangs in a green-yellow sky. The original is small, 32.5 x 40.3 cm, and hangs in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. We paint it by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 40 x 32 to 190 x 151 cm or to your own measurement, and send you a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch.

The Sower – Vincent van Gogh

What does The Sower show?

A peasant walks towards you across a freshly ploughed field and throws the seed with a wide swing of his arm. He is painted almost entirely in dark blue, his face in shadow, with a green scarf at his neck, and he is cut off by the lower edge of the canvas, so he seems to step out of it. Right across the painting, from the lower right corner to the top, leans the thick dark trunk of a pruned tree, with a few thin branches and orange-pink leaves.

Behind the sower’s head stands the sun, an immense yellow disc low on the horizon. The sky is green-yellow with streaks of pink cloud, the field is violet and lilac, and far away on the right a farmhouse and a row of trees stand small against the light. Van Gogh described the same composition to his brother: “Immense lemon yellow disc for the sun. Green-yellow sky with pink clouds. The field is violet, the sower and the tree Prussian Blue.”

Why did Van Gogh paint The Sower in November 1888?

The sower was a subject Van Gogh came back to all his working life: according to the Van Gogh Museum he made more than 30 drawings and paintings of it. The root of all of them is Jean-François Millet’s Sower of 1850, the French painter’s image of a peasant at work, which Van Gogh admired all his life.

In the autumn of 1888 Paul Gauguin was living and working with him in Arles. Gauguin believed that Van Gogh should draw less on reality and more on his imagination, and this canvas shows that advice at work. The colours are not those of a real evening: Van Gogh chose them to express emotion and passion, and gave the leading roles to the greenish-yellow sky and the purple field.

What does The Sower mean?

For Van Gogh, sowing stood for the cycle of life: the seed thrown into the earth is the promise of the next harvest. Here he took that idea further. The Van Gogh Museum points out that the bright yellow sun behind the man’s head looks like a halo, and so it turns an ordinary peasant into a saint.

The tree adds tension. It blocks half the view, its pruned branches reach across the sky, and it is painted in the same dark blue as the sower, so the man and the tree seem to belong together, both rooted in the same earth. The painting is about work on the land, but painted with the intensity of a religious image.

Where does the original hang?

The original hangs in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, where it is currently on view. The museum lists it as The Sower, Arles, November 1888, oil on canvas, 32.5 x 40.3 cm, under object number s0029V1962, held by the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. After the painter’s death it passed to his brother Theo, then to Theo’s widow Jo van Gogh-Bonger and their son, and it has been part of the museum’s collection since it opened in 1973.

It is a small canvas, so in the museum you can stand close enough to follow every stroke of the sky. A letter Van Gogh wrote to Theo around 21 November 1888, with a small sketch of the composition, can be read in the online edition of Van Gogh’s letters; its notes explain that technical examination showed this small canvas was painted after a larger version of the same subject.

The Sower or The Sower I – which should you choose?

We paint two of Van Gogh’s sowers, and they are easy to tell apart. The Sower I is the June 1888 painting from the Kröller-Müller Museum: a calm, open summer field, the sower in the middle distance, a huge yellow sun on the horizon and a field in violet and orange, on a canvas twice as large as this one. The Sower is the November version: dramatic and close-up, with the dark tree slicing across the evening sky and the sun turned into a halo.

Choose The Sower I for light and space, and The Sower for a bold, graphic painting with strong contrasts. Both go back to Millet, and both are landscape format. If you are drawn to peasant life, The Potato Eaters shows the same respect for working people in the dark tones of 1885, while Sunflowers I and The Yellow House, the house where he lived and worked in Arles, carry the same yellows from 1888.

How is our hand-painted Sower made?

The painter first draws the horizon, the leaning trunk and the figure on the canvas, because the whole painting depends on that diagonal. Then come the green-yellow sky with its pink clouds, the sun built up in circles of thick yellow, the violet field in short broken strokes, and last the dark blue of the sower and the tree. 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 is easy to see: the sun is a raised disc of paint, and the furrows of the field are laid down stroke by stroke. 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. Before dispatch we photograph it, sending you the photograph to approve.

Which size for which wall?

Short answer: 40 x 32 cm if you want the painting at the size of the original, 80 x 65 or 90 x 70 cm above a chest of drawers or a desk, 120 x 100 or 135 x 109 cm above a sofa, and 190 x 151 cm for a large empty wall. The landscape format suits long furniture, and the strong yellow of the sun still reads from across the room.

There are 17 sizes: 40 x 32, 50 x 39, 50 x 40, 55 x 45, 60 x 50, 70 x 60, 80 x 65, 90 x 70, 95 x 78, 105 x 83, 120 x 100, 135 x 109, 150 x 120, 160 x 127, 170 x 134, 180 x 142 and 190 x 151 cm (width x height). The original is 40.3 cm wide and 32.5 cm high, so our smallest size, 40 x 32 cm, is practically the size of the canvas in Amsterdam; every larger size enlarges it, and the bold shapes of the tree and the sun hold up well at large sizes. A painting for the living room should cover about two thirds of the width of the furniture below it: 135 x 109 cm above a sofa of about 200 cm.

Hang it with the centre of the canvas about 150 cm above the floor. Above a sofa or a sideboard, leave 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. We recommend keeping the proportions close to the original, otherwise the sun and the tree 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. The yellow sky suits a warm gold or a natural wood frame; a black profile makes the dark tree even stronger.

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.

More famous Van Gogh paintings are in the Vincent van Gogh gallery, and there is more about the painter in our article on Vincent van Gogh. If you are not sure of the size, or the painting is a gift, a wall art voucher lets the recipient choose.

Frequently asked questions

Where is The Sower by Van Gogh today?

In the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, where it is currently on view under object number s0029V1962, held by the Vincent van Gogh Foundation. It should not be confused with The Sower I, the larger June 1888 painting with the big sun over a violet field, which hangs in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo.

When and where did Van Gogh paint The Sower?

In Arles, in the south of France, in November 1888, while Paul Gauguin was living and working with him. Around 21 November he sent his brother Theo a sketch of the composition, with an immense lemon yellow sun, a green-yellow sky with pink clouds and a violet field.

Why did Van Gogh paint The Sower?

Because the sower was one of the subjects of his life: he made more than 30 drawings and paintings of it, starting from Millet’s famous Sower. In the autumn of 1888 Gauguin urged him to paint more from imagination, and here he used colours to express emotion rather than to copy a real evening.

What does The Sower by Van Gogh mean?

It is about the cycle of life: the seed sown in the earth is the promise of the next harvest. The Van Gogh Museum notes that the yellow sun behind the man’s head looks like a halo, turning a simple peasant into a saint. The dark tree beside him, in the same blue, seems rooted in the same land.

Why is the sun so big in The Sower?

Van Gogh wanted it to dominate: in his letter he called it an “immense lemon yellow disc”. Placed directly behind the sower’s head, it works like a halo. In the painting it is also the thickest paint on the canvas, built up in circles, so it is the first thing the eye finds.

Why are the sky and the field in The Sower green and purple?

Because Van Gogh chose the colours for their emotion, not for realism. According to the Van Gogh Museum he gave the leading roles to the greenish-yellow of the sky and the purple of the field. Yellow and violet are opposite colours, so each makes the other glow, which is why this small canvas looks so intense.

How big is the original The Sower?

The original is small: 32.5 cm high and 40.3 cm wide. Our smallest size, 40 x 32 cm, is practically the size of the painting in Amsterdam, and there are 16 larger sizes up to 190 x 151 cm, as well as custom sizes for a particular wall.

How many versions of The Sower did Van Gogh paint?

He made more than 30 drawings and paintings of sowers. In November 1888 he painted this composition twice: a larger no. 30 canvas and this small one, which technical examination showed was painted after it. The calm June 1888 version with the big sun over a violet field is The Sower I, a different painting.

Does your The Sower have the raised brushstrokes of the original?

Yes. We paint our version 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 on the sun, which becomes a raised disc of yellow, and on the short strokes of the violet field. A print cannot have this relief, because its surface is flat, while a canvas painting carries it.

• Subject: a peasant sowing a violet field at sunset, beside a dark leaning tree, under an immense yellow sun.
• Original: November 1888, Arles, 32.5 x 40.3 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
• Ours: a Van Gogh reproduction painted by hand in oil on canvas, in 17 sizes from 40 x 32 to 190 x 151 cm or made to measure.
• Worth knowing: our 40 x 32 cm size is practically the size of the original.