Moisson (Harvest)

For Charles-François Daubigny, it's the esthetic appeal of a female farmhand surrounded by tall stems that provides the pretext for painting fields of wheat.

In a landscape flecked with clouds tinged pink by the evening sky, a female farmhand rushes to join the other harvesters who are hard at work a few feet away.

The horizon is dotted with thickets of trees and some tall mounds near the farm.

The craftsmanship behind the depiction of the field of wheat in the foreground is remarkable on this very large canvas painting.

The intensity of the color, from dark green to golden-yellow, the thickness of the long brushstrokes, supple and light, the stalks bending under the wind, the delicate touch of the flecks of blue and red that bring together the farmhands, cornflowers and poppies ...

everything comes together for a hyper-realistic depiction.

And the composition of the scene is no less remarkable. Walking onward with her arms full of gold, the young farmhand seems to open up the field beneath her feet as she goes, as if beckoning us to follow her.