Het verpakken van aardappelmeel 1900 - 1930

Herman Heijenbrock made this pastel painting depicting workers packaging potato flour. Observe the repetitive action of packing: a group working as a single unit, their labor made visible through the stacks of neatly arranged packages. Consider the significance of hands, so prominent here. Throughout art history, hands have symbolized labor, skill, and creation, from the divine hands of God in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel to the working hands in Millet’s paintings. The hands here, in their tireless work, connect to a deep lineage of human endeavor. The arrangement of the flour packages into neat stacks evokes images of offerings and organized displays of bounty, resonating with our shared cultural memory of sustenance and nourishment. This painting, then, transcends a mere depiction of work; it engages us on a profound, almost subconscious level, evoking themes of labor, community, and survival. It shows us how images endure, carrying meaning through time and space.