The Cabbage Gatherers c. 1878 - 1879

Camille Pissarro, a key figure in Impressionism, painted “The Cabbage Gatherers” at a time when rural life was rapidly changing due to industrialization. Pissarro, who had anarchist beliefs, was deeply interested in representing the dignity of the working class. Here, we see three women working in the fields, their bodies bent in labor. The painting gives us insight into the lives of peasant women in 19th-century France. Their existence was shaped by both their gender and their class. They faced the double burden of manual labor and societal expectations of women. The choice of a fan as the support for the work is also interesting. It was an object often associated with the domestic sphere, while this work extends that sphere out into the fields. Pissarro’s approach humanizes his subjects. It invites us to reflect on the intersectional nature of identity and labor. It also asks us to consider the value and representation of rural labor in a changing world.