Cabbage Field 1942

Konstantin Gorbatov painted this artwork titled 'Cabbage Field' with oil. Here, we are presented with the image of a cabbage field that evokes a sense of pastoral labor. Notice how the composition is structured by parallel lines of plants. These lines not only depict rows of cabbages, but symbolically, these suggest the regularity and order imposed on nature by human cultivation. Cabbage, in its humble form, carries associations with sustenance, simplicity, and the earth itself. Yet, look at how this humble scene of agricultural labor mirrors images such as Millet’s paintings of laborers from the mid-19th century and even finds echoes in classical depictions of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture. The cycle of planting and harvesting has a timeless quality. We can see that the painting echoes a deep, collective memory of humanity’s relationship with the land. This artwork, seemingly simple, stirs profound psychological connections to our shared human experience of labor, nature, and survival.