Post-Impressionism (pt. 11)

In this painting of a Wheat Field and Cypress, painted in 1889, we can also distinguish the artist's creative skill for depicting the energy and liveliness of the landscape.  Not similar to the static and still landscape works of Claude Monet, this painting shows wispy, twirling clouds gliding along in the sky and stalks of wheat and grass blowing in the wind.  The curvy lines of the trees and bushes lend vibrancy and energy to the scene.  Once again, rich colors, thickly applied, populate the canvas, and the artist's brushstrokes are clearly visible.  He is in the landscape, painting en plein air, and he is bringing us into the landscape with him through the elements of wind, air, and light.  In that sense, the painting is quite effectively expressive of itself, relating its own qualities to the viewer in a way that brings us on equal footing with the subject.  It's subtly transcendent in a way that (I think) communicates through abstracts and emotions.  We can look at it and almost feel the environment, picture ourselves in such a place, and be taken away from our current surroundings.  And it is once again a lonely scene and perhaps even in a way mournful.