La Paye des Moissonneurs (Paying the Harvesters)

A key figure in the pastoral art scene, Léon Lhermitte dedicates huge canvases to photorealistic portrayals to farm workers. This work depicts the end of the working day.

With their scythes still in hand or held over their shoulders, the day laborers receive, on their employer's farm, their pay packet that will allow them to keep their families alive, as evoked in the depiction of the woman breastfeeding her baby.

The wooden handle and the blade of the old harvester's scythe, which symbolize both death and life—earning money to make a living while exhausting one's strength—lend structure and dynamism to the piece as a whole.

While his weariness can be seen on the blank stare on his face or the relaxed posture of his arms and shoulders, his back is straight, his lips sealed, and his head held high to mark his pride in the work accomplished.