Green Wheat Fields, Auvers

After returning to northern France, Van Gogh renewed his attention to cool greens and blues. Long strokes connect the movement of field and sky. The painting spent decades in Paul Mellon's Virginia home before entering the museum in 2013. A familiar rural subject receives a new color organization.

Curving marks form dense green wheat. Their directions convey the field's surface without drawing individual plants.

A pale road bends toward the horizon. It separates dense vegetation and provides a route into the distance.

Blue and white clouds curl overhead. Similar long brush movements occur in both ground and sky.

Low green hills span the distance. Their gentle boundary joins the painting's two broad areas.

Long grasslike strokes cross the foreground. Up close, the paint's direction visibly organizes the entire view.

At Auvers, the painter returned to northern French rural subjects. This view preserves the cooler palette of his final period. Its donation from the Mellon collection in 2013 brought it into a permanent public collection.