THE SOWER
By VINCENT VAN GOGH
"THE SOWER" (13"/16" inches) oil on canvas, Painted by VINCENT VAN GOGH in October 1888 (Arles). Now it is collected by V. W. van Gogh, Laren.
In this tiny canvas, VAN GOGH wished to apply the lessons he had learned from Japanese art: composition of strong diagonals, objects cut by the frame, flat areas of pure colour, whimsical shapes determined by the itregularities of nature.
He retains, however, the full evidence of the brush & the impetus of the hand, which is foreign to the Japanese prints he loved; & a nuancing of atmospheric colours in light & shadow that is strictly Western.
Not pure intense colours, but rare tones like the apple green sky which take the observer out of the familiar world & awaken him to astonishment & reverie and submerged currents of feeling.
In VAN GOGH"S conception of the figure & the tree, there is a mysterious affinity in colour, silhouette & direction,like an unexpected rhyme which unites otherwise unconnected words & gives a greater resonance to both.
Decisive for the mood of the work is the vision of the distant colourful world through the dark neutralized tones of the foreground objects, & the position of the gigantic sun between them.
In the network of lines, we may observe VAN GOGH"S great intuitive command of the harmony of directions & his freedom in deploying the elements given by nature.
VINCENT VAN GOGH PAINTINGS