The French title of this work is: Etude de Paysanne en plein air. The word etude interested me as I thought only of a musical exercise. But here is the dictionary definition of etude in art.
A drawing or sketch done in preparation for a finished piece. Studies are often used to understand the problems involved in rendering subjects and to plan the elements to be used in finished works, such as light, color, form, perspective, composition.
In other words, this is not Pissarro's finished product - he's just setting things up. Why? Because there's a lot going on in this scene and he needs to plan or prepare well: how the woman holds the shovel, how she's using her foot for leverage, the background plants, what time of day is it, the four horizontal layers of ground against her vertical stance. And who is that way off in the distance watching: is it an admire-r, a family member, the boss? If it's the boss, he might not be too happy that the young lady seems to be lost in her own thoughts.
It's said that the real work of gardening, or the principal concern of the gardener, is not the plants, but the soil. If you've got good soil, you've got your plants off to a good start. To be sure, insects, light, precipitation, pests, all play a part in whether the garden is a success or not - but improving one's soil is the real deal. It's called laying the ground.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, said: "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance."
So what might the inner significance be for us here? Perhaps it is the digging into, or the working of our own inner ground with self-reflection, so to open the closed heart.
So what might the inner significance be for us here? Perhaps it is the digging into, or the working of our own inner ground with self-reflection, so to open the closed heart.
