The Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro depicted peasants throughout his career. In 1873, however, he began focusing on the traditional aspects of agrarian life, such as manual labor, that were under threat of disappearing due to rapid industrialization. Here, a peasant woman wearing a simple dress and apron carries two bundles of hay down a dirt path, the roofs and chimneys of a village disappearing behind her. By giving the figure a solid, monumental presence within the landscape, Pissarro instilled his humble subject with a sense of importance and quiet dignity.

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• Guggenheim, New York
  Read a biography of Camille Pissarro.