The artwork “Ploughland” by Camille Pissarro is an oil on canvas painting from 1874, measuring 64 x 49 cm. As a quintessential piece of the Impressionism movement, it is housed at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Russia. The genre of the painting is landscape, reflecting Pissarro’s fascination with rural scenes and the agrarian lifestyle.
In the artwork, the viewer is presented with a seemingly tranquil rural landscape, occupied by figures engaged in agricultural work. The rich texture of the ploughed field occupies the foreground, with furrows that guide the eye towards the middle ground, where a team of horses, accompanied by human figures, can be seen amidst greenery and rolling earth. Against this earthen tapestry, a cart appears, painted in shades of green which contrasts subtly with the surrounding hues of brown and amber. Trees with bare and leafy branches frame the scene, stretching upwards and mingling with the muted, overcast sky, which casts a soft, diffused light upon the entire setting. The impressionist technique is evident in the painterly brushstrokes and the atmospheric quality of light, suggesting a moment of daily life captured with a focus on light and color rather than detail.
