julien dupre recolte des foins 1881
In the 19th century a new generation of painters broke with the idealism of the classical painting tradition and directed its attention to nature and every day life in the countryside. The Barbizon school is a good example. With great determination the French painter Gustave Courbet paved the way for Realism , which became the modern trend in painting. Realist painters portrayed subjects of everyday life. At that time the life and work of farmers became a popular subject for painters. Many painters left their studio and went to the countryside to paint en plein air. Hay time in mid-summer became a favorite subject.
Collecting hay from the field was a labour intensive and social happening. Many people, men and women were involved. In many drawings and paintings the French painter Millet expressed his compassion with the labourers on the field, either hard working or resting from from it. Vincent van Gogh shared Millet's compassion with the working poor and made several copies of the working figures of Millet. Other painters were inspired by women during haytime. Jules Dupre made series of paintings depicting heroic females using the rake to draw hay together. Camille Pisarro was another painter with a a special interest in female rural workers not only during hay time. During his whole career he portrayed female workers in all kinds of agricultural activities.The painting made by the Belgian luminist Emile Claus suggests that haymaking is not hard physical labour. His elegant haymaker poses like a model on the catwalk. But as we can expect from Emile Claus, the light is beautiful. When you study all the paintings made of haymaking with all those pretty and strong women I suppose that it must have been a pleasure for 19th century painters making sketches of haytime in mid summer.
Not all painters focussed on human figures during haytime. The French painter Monet was not interested in the social context of haymaking but focussed on the color of haystacks. Monet's haystack paintings are probably the most well known paintings of hay.