Wheatfield with Partridges

A wheat field near Paris

In the summer of 1887, Van Gogh was living in Paris with his brother Theo. He often walked to the edge of the city and painted fields and gardens there. In this canvas, a bird rises from a field of green wheat under a pale, windy sky.

The painting belongs to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, where it is titled Wheatfield with a Partridge.

A partridge taking flight

Near the top of the wheat, a single bird flies off, painted with a few quick strokes. It gives the scene its moment of movement and its title.

Wheat bending in the wind

The wheat is made of long, curving strokes of green, yellow and blue, all leaning the same way. You can feel the wind passing over the field.

Among the stalks, small touches of red poppies and blue cornflowers add colour. Van Gogh had learned from the Impressionists in Paris to brighten his palette and use broken strokes.

A step towards Arles

Only a year earlier his paintings had been dark and earthy. In Paris his colours became light and his brushwork freer. This field already looks ahead to the wheat fields he would paint in the south, at Arles, in 1888.

Questions about Wheatfield with a Partridge

When was it painted?

In the summer of 1887, in Paris.

Where is it?

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

What is the bird?

A partridge flying up from the wheat.

Was it painted outdoors?

Yes. Van Gogh painted fields at the edge of Paris directly from nature.

Sources and image credit

• Van Gogh Museum: Wheatfield with a Partridge
• Wikimedia Commons: Korenveld met patrijs

Faithful public-domain reproduction of Wheatfield with a Partridge (1887), via Wikimedia Commons (Van Gogh Museum). Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.