Preparing the Celebration of the Wine Harvest 1860

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller painted this scene of workers preparing a wine harvest celebration with oil on canvas. Waldmüller’s choice of the oil medium is not accidental, as the layers of paint are built up slowly to describe the preparations for the harvest. Looking closely, we can see how the artist has built up texture with his brushstrokes, delineating the wooden structure with precision. The figures are arranged in various states of labor and merriment, their clothes carefully rendered, some are hanging garlands, others are dancing. The medium captures the details of their clothes, their labor, and the context of the barn. Painting, like any creative process, is itself labor-intensive. We see the artist engaging with the craft of painting, elevating the everyday life of the working class to the realm of high art. He transforms a scene of ordinary labor into something worth beholding. In the end, Waldmüller’s choice of oil on canvas doesn’t just depict the preparation of a wine harvest but encapsulates the dignity of labor itself, blurring the lines between fine art and the crafts of everyday life.