The Bohemian Peasant Girl c. 19th century

Robert Koehler made this oil painting, "The Bohemian Peasant Girl," sometime in the late nineteenth century. Koehler spent much of his career in Germany, so the work reflects his engagement with European social realities. This is a genre painting, meaning that it depicts a scene of everyday life. The artist is interested in the way that traditional rural life was changing in the face of industrial modernity. He’s interested in a type of person that was quickly disappearing from Europe. It has the feel of social realism, a visual aesthetic concerned with representing the lives of ordinary people, especially the poor. For art historians, understanding this image requires documentary research into the history of European social movements of the time. This painting offers insight into the world’s rapidly changing economic and social conditions, and it exemplifies a particular set of cultural values.