Farmers at work (Risaiole) 1908

Umberto Boccioni painted 'Farmers at work (Risaiole)' without dating the work, using oil on cardboard. It’s a landscape buzzing with energy. You can almost feel the sun beating down and the movement of the farmers through his quick and lively brushstrokes. It feels like the painting was done alla prima, in one sitting. The texture of the paint is really something. It’s thick in places, like impasto, where Boccioni wanted to capture the solidity of the earth and the figures, but elsewhere it's thinner, more transparent, allowing light to filter through. In the foreground, look how he uses short, choppy strokes of green and yellow to suggest the field, really giving the impression of the hard work and physical labour of these farmers. Then there's the mountains in the background made of blues, greens, and browns, these colours are layered to create depth. Boccioni and the Futurists were obsessed with capturing movement and energy in painting. This piece reminds me a little of Van Gogh’s landscapes with its intensity of colour and emotion. But while Van Gogh was all about personal expression, Boccioni was trying to capture the dynamism of modern life. It's a reminder that art is always in conversation with what came before.