Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) viewed wheat as a central metaphor of the cycle of life and the creative process. As such, it was a theme that he consistently explored throughout his career. This book examines the artist's personal and visual fascination with wheat, analyzing the significance that the motif - and by extension, the peasant at work in nature - played within the social and cultural framework of 19th-century France and in the works of other artists of the time.<BR>Focusing on his powerful Sheaves of Wheat from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art - one of thirteen canvases completed in the last month of his life - this book features illustrations of Van Gogh's works as well as personal correspondence and letters. Related images by such prominent contemporary artists as Emile Bernard, Jules Breton, Charles-Francois Daubigny, Paul Gauguin, Jean-Francois Millet, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissarro are also included. Together these works reveal the larger social and political trends of 19th-century France.