Reproductie naar een schilderij van Willem Witsen van twee vrouwen en een kind met takken op de rug c. 1860 - 1915

This photograph reproduces Willem Witsen’s painting of women and a child carrying bundles of branches through a stark landscape. The act of carrying wood is heavy with symbolism. We see it echoed across time, from the ancient Roman depictions of peasants gathering wood for fuel to images of hardship during wartime. The weight of these burdens speaks to a primal struggle for survival, a theme deeply embedded in our collective memory. The act of bearing a load on one's back is not merely physical; it evokes a sense of endurance and the fortitude required to provide and protect. In earlier religious contexts, wood carried on one’s shoulders is an allusion to Christ carrying the cross. But in this image, it represents the cyclical, ongoing nature of human labor. These women are connected to a timeless narrative of labor and sustenance. Such images persist because they tap into our deepest anxieties and primal understandings of life and work. They remind us that the burden of labor, like the seasons, is a constant, ever-present force in human existence.