Harvest Scene

Winslow Homer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Homer’s preoccupation with idyllic agrarian subjects and direct observation of nature recalls those of French Barbizon School artists, such as Jean-François Millet, who worked near the Fontainebleau forest beginning in the 1830s. Homer might have seen their paintings in his native Boston and during his trip to Paris in 1866–67. Characteristic of Homer’s art of this period is his use of direct, overhead light to define the middle ground. Small figures harvesting hay are merely suggested with quick dabs of paint. Calligraphic tree trunks and spreading branches form an irregular gridlike pattern against the sky.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art