Greve 

Candido Portinari made this painting, called "Greve," or "Strike," in 1955. Here, workers stand along a track that leads to a dark shape in the distance. Some sit, others stand with their arms upraised. Portinari’s painting speaks to the labor strikes that shook Brazil in the 1950s. In an era of rapid industrialization, workers fought for better conditions and fair wages. The image suggests how the cultural context of labor movements, economic policy, and the experience of work itself shaped the artist's choices. As historians, we might look to archival documents to reconstruct the economic and political factors that impacted Portinari. We could also research how the artist viewed his own role in society. In this way, we can understand the painting not just as an aesthetic object, but as a window onto the social world.