The Little Brewery

In this interior from a brewery, women workers are bottling beer and corking the filled bottles. In the background, a supervisor is watching over their work. Women factory workers were not a new phenomenon in the era of Swedish industrialization. Their work could be both heavy and hazardous, but Zorn’s painting can hardly be interpreted as social criticism. On the contrary, he seems to have been the most interested in capturing the light, the humidity, and their concentration as they worked.

This artwork is featured as a part of our collaboration with Europeana, Europe’s platform for cultural heritage. Their Europe at Work project shares the story of Europe through our working lives in the past and the present. Visit this blog to learn more about the origins of the beer culture.

P.S. One of the most renowned depictions of factory work is The Iron Rolling Mill by Adolph Menzel, called also Modern Cyclopes (which says a lot about it). You can read more here.