Harvesting

A luminous painting in clear, bright colors, Harvesting is one of the most important works by the Belgian painter Anna Boch. In front of a sunlit greenhouse—covered with a layer of straw to soften the intensity of the light on the glass—a very young girl wearing a straw hat gathers flowers, fruit, or berries. She appears behind a vegetable garden planted with Brussels sprouts and cabbages, protected by marigolds, indicated by small red touches among the green foliage.

Following the legacy of the Impressionists, Boch challenges the traditional separation between figure and background and rethinks the construction of depth within the composition. At the same time, the painting reflects Neo-Impressionist ideas through its use of complementary colors and the solid structure of the figure. Yet Boch allows herself greater freedom in her brushwork, seeking above all to convey a sincere emotional response.

This painting marks a turning point in Boch’s career, as she moved away from her earlier, darker compositions toward scenes of rural life and landscape. First exhibited in 1891 in Brussels at the avant-garde group Les XX, and later that year at the Salon des Indépendants, the work was described by the press as “very rich in tone and executed on a scale rare for a woman.” The remark reveals the sexism Boch faced, much like her contemporaries Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Jenny Montigny, and Anna de Weert, whose artistic choices and subjects closely paralleled her own.

This sensitivity to nature and everyday beauty is also reflected in our Women Artists 50 Postcards Set, featuring works by women artists who redefined how we see flowers, gardens, and rural life in art.

P.S. Discover the luminous art of Anna Boch!