Girl with Hay Rake
1878 National Gallery of Art
About this artwork
This watercolor depicts a young woman standing in a field holding a hay rake over her shoulder, set against a backdrop of trees. It exemplifies Homer's mastery of the watercolor medium, capturing the interplay of light and shadow in a rural landscape.
Did you know?
Winslow Homer spent significant time in Houghton Farm, New York, during the late 1870s, where he created many pastoral watercolors of farm life. These works mark a shift in his career from the illustrative style of his early career toward a more refined, atmospheric mastery of the watercolor medium. The painting highlights the simple dignity of agrarian life, a recurring theme in his late 19th-century work.
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Girl with Hay Rake
Winslow Homer, 1878
