Harvest, Laurits Andersen Ring

Harvest, Laurits Andersen Ring (1885)

Laurits Andersen Ring was one of the foremost Danish painters of the turn of the 20th century, who pioneered both symbolism and social realism in Denmark.

The labourer is the brother of L.A. Ring, Ole Peter Andersen, and the picture was painted at his farm in Tehusene at Fakse on South Zealand.

The depiction of everyday situations. It is a monumental portrait - not of the brother, whose face is virtually hidden, but of the agricultural labourer as a type, as a powerful bearer of Ring’s hopes of revolution. It is also, however, a picture of the Reaper mowing down the cornfields, thereby presenting an image of man’s position suspended between life - the ripe cornfield - and inevitable death. The extremely high horizon is very typical of Ring’s works. Here it serves to prevent the reaper from reaching up into the sky, keeping him firmly grounded.