A conflict of thoughts maybe? The man in the painting could be stuck at a crossroad and is totally unsure what to do with his life next. The painting could be a metaphor for having a crisis in life, or it could be more literal...
The man looks like Vincent van Gogh, and it has been suggested that Vincent suffered severely from some form of mental health issue such as bipolar disorder. When I said "bipolar" to myself I remembered that the disorder causes its sufferer to have extreme emotional states, so perhaps the men in the painting represent manic and mania within Vincents mind.
The birds flying above could be ravens which, in certain folklores, represent death, so the painting could also be telling a story of the mans demise. Maybe Vincent van Gogh's suicide was inevitable, at least to the artist, and the ravens represent that said impending doom.