Fields with Blooming Poppies, 1890 by Vincent van Gogh

The area surrounding Auvers afforded Van Gogh plenty of scenery for inspiration, and during his last months, the artist painted numerous scenes of wheat fields and wide-open, windy countryside. The sky here has an oppressive weight, and seems to bear down on the vast expanse of land, while both the sky and the land have been pointed with on undulating rhythm that suggests great movement.

The picture has an uneasiness, which is compounded by peculiar perspective. The field delineated to the right of the picture appears to jump forward, while those to the left that should be on the same rush backwards, and there is a spatial ambiguity between the area of poppies in the foreground and the fields in the distance. The whole presents a turbulent image that is unsettling and unconvincing. The painting was done in the weeks prior to him taking his own life, and at a time when his world was falling in. He was extremely anxious about his brother Theo and his family, and had fallen out with Dr Gachet - he felt alone and ultimately unable to cope.