The Sower (Sower with Setting Sun) – (Vincent Van Gogh) Previous Next


Artist:

Style: Post-Impressionism

Topic: Fields Sunset Men Countryside Handwork Sky

Date: 1888

Size: 64 x 81 cm

Museum: Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller (Otterlo, Netherlands)

Technique: Oil On Canvas

In Arles, Van Gogh painted a series of canvases depicting a sower in the fields against the backdrop of a setting sun. His major source of inspiration for these was Jean-Francois Millet's The sower. Van Gogh regarded the seasonal growth cycle of the crops - particularly that of wheat- as a metaphor for the creation of new life, growth, flowering and finally decline. As such the activity of sowing as evening falls constitutes an apposite symbol for the continuity of life. Van Gogh wanted to give his sower a contemporary expression through a striking use of colour, working with what he called complementary contrasts such as yellow and purple. Through Van Gogh's efforts to create an emphatic palette, the effect of the twilight was initially lost: the bright yellow sun radiating bright brushstrokes of colour appeared a harbinger of the dawn rather than the night. In a later version Van Gogh toned down the yellow of the sky with green and gave the sun a dark outline, so successfully capturing the onset of nightfall.

This artwork is in the public domain.

Artist

Download

Click here to download

Permissions

Free for non commercial use. See below.

Vincent Van Gogh – Most viewed artworks

Public domain

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the watermark.

This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.


Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Côte d'Ivoire has a general copyright term of 99 years and Honduras has 75 years, but they do implement that rule of the shorter term.