Vincent van Gogh’s 'Laboureur dans un champ', 1889

In the year before his death, Van Gogh lived in the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole. 'Laboureur dans un champ' reflects an artist determined to heal himself through work. On most mornings between May 1889 and May 1890, the outside world visible to Vincent van Gogh appeared much like it does in Laboureur dans un champ: a low stone wall enclosing a wheat field, a few poplars, an old farm house, a ploughman tilling the soil. Van Gogh began this painting in the final days of August 1889, completing it on 2 September. It was a momentous development for Van Gogh, who had not handled his brushes for a month and a half. Dr. Théophile Peyron and the attendants at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy had locked the artist out of his studio, awaiting his return to good health and a stable, less frenzied state of mind. Find out more: http://ift.tt/2zxiwKw -- Subscribe to Christie's YouTube: http://goo.gl/Vmh7Hf Sign up to Christie's Weekly: https://goo.gl/kc8qpV Follow Christie's on: Facebook: http://ift.tt/2elC9Zg Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChristiesInc Instagram: http://ift.tt/2iJ3lGm Pinterest: http://ift.tt/2elCafM