Harvest 

Harvest is a small oil painting made by the German artist Hugo Mühlig in the late 19th or early 20th century. It shows a farmer and his oxen tilling the soil, a timeless image of agrarian life. During Mühlig’s lifetime, Europe was undergoing rapid industrialization. Many artists turned their attention to rural scenes, imbuing them with a sense of nostalgia for a simpler past. But these idealized scenes often obscured the harsh realities of agricultural labor. The relentless demands of farm work and the economic hardships faced by rural communities were often left unacknowledged. What do we make of this painting today, as we grapple with the legacy of industrialization and its impact on the environment and on society? Does Mühlig’s painting offer a comforting vision of a bygone era? Or does it prompt us to consider the complex relationship between humans and the land, and the social inequalities that have shaped the history of agriculture?