The Veteran in a New Field

Winslow Homer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Completed in 1865, following the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, this deeply symbolic painting embodies the tension between grief and hope after the war. A discarded Union Army jacket and canteen in the lower right corner identify the farmer as a veteran, and the "new field" of the title reminds us of his old one, the battlefield. This return to productive, peaceful pursuits echoes the biblical passage from Isaiah 2:4, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares." While the bountiful Northern harvest signifies renewal and recovery, the single-bladed scythe evokes the Grim Reaper. Pigment that has become transparent over time reveals that Homer originally painted a more elaborate scythe that he later simplified, intensifying its association with death.

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