This is why I love Art History. Bruegel’s work in general captures the magic of the present through his subject matter. This painting is one of six paintings in a series where Bruegel captures the peasantry in Antwerp through several different seasons and weather conditions.

Now I could speak about the painting formally, but do I have to? Just looking at the painting you can see the balance and the use of colors. You witness its beauty.

In The Harvesters, Bruegel has depicted exactly that - peasants tending to the fields, the cogs of this town in motion. And within this heaven, this little niche under a tree, the viewer finds a sense of home. Bruegel accurately paints the feeling of being a part of a community. This idea is what I take away from the painting. Bruegel has created this scene where people are hard at work, doing their daily chores and duty. That is their life on a day-to-day basis. The church, obscured in the background, sits in the back of everyone’s mind, yet it is not their main concern. They’re too focused on the work ahead of them, which is entire left side of the painting of wheat yet to be harvested.

They beauty is the commonality Bruegel has captured within these people. Taking the Northern Renaissance a step even further away from the in your face religious depictions in the south. Through the composition of the flora in the right side of the painting, Bruegel takes the emphasis off of religion and pulls back the curtain to reveal the landscape, a town, and its people. I get a feeling similar to Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow, where although they are all performing a laborious act, it is for the greater good, all these people coming together to improve their quality of life in unity. You feel the warmth.