The Harvesters: Wood Painting Artwork - Essay Example

The Harvesters The harvest refers to an oil on wood painting artwork that was originally done by PieterBruegel in the year 1565. Pieter Bruegel was among the artists whose artworks were influenced by the Northern Renaissance that took place in Italy. The theme of this exhibition would definitely be, “the returns for hard work”. The portrait shows peasants in a wheat farm in two groups. One group is busy harvesting wheat from the field while another group is resting while having a meal under the shade of a tree.

The artwork shows a number of stacked wheat, which is definitely the result of the work of the group of peasants who are already working. The harvest is believed to be a depiction of the months of August and September. Among the people who are still continuing with the harvest there are those who are cutting down the stalk and those who are gathering. The ones gathering are women. Looking at the manner in which Pieter Bruegel makes use of the vastness of the panorama in the remaining part of the portrait reveals that the artist’s focus was not in the work that was going on the farm nor the time or season of the year but on the transformation that the landscape is going through.

One thing that can be noted about this painting is that it is realistic. This can be seen in the way Pieter Bruegel chose to use real people in the portrait. He shows an exhausted man, people eating into their food due to anger and another group working in the field before they can take a break. The most prominent color in the portrait is yellow. The accent colors in the portrait include red and blue. The other colors that include dark green and grayish blue are muted. The white color of the shirts that are worn by the laborers echoes grayish color of the sky.

Pieter Bruegel uses shapes that are mostly simple and flat in this portrait. In this piece of art it can be easily noted that the artist had the intention emphasizing the superiority of nature. This can be seen in his choice to make sure that all man made things in the portrait are made as insignificant as possible. The mood in the artwork is determined by the light from the sun that gives the idea of heat that the harvesters are subject as a result of the light of the sun1. The author chooses to make the harvesters small so that he can make them insignificant, so that much focus will remain on the landscape.

Just like in most of the work done with work done by Pieter Bruegel, the use of a blend of simplicity and deception can be seen in this portrait. Looking at the art work anybody will agree that the depiction of landscape is very simple with no complication at all. This makes it easier for the subject to be deduced from the artwork. It is also notable that it is easier to feel the effect of the artwork than coming up with an explanation for it. Pieter Bruegel is also known for his use of visual meditation on the far and the near.

He has used it in this case with the nearest being depicted by the harvesters and the far being represented by the landscape. Work cited Brueghel, Pieter, and Nadine Orenstein. Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001. Print.