The Mower

The Mower

Georges Seurat

Colors in this work

Details

Date
1881–82
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
6 1/2 × 9 7/8 in. (16.5 × 25.1 cm) Framed: 14 3/8 × 17 7/8 in. (36.5 × 45.4 cm)
Holding institution
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

Art Genome Taxonomy

9 tags

Subject Matter

  • Work and Workers Both · 99%

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art lists the subject as “Working,” and the image clearly shows a person engaged in agricultural labor with a scythe.

  • Landscapes Visual · 99%

    The composition presents a broad cultivated field extending across the image, with a distant horizontal band of vegetation.

  • Human Figure Visual · 99%

    A clearly recognizable human figure occupies the central area of the composition in a bent, active pose.

  • Movement Visual · 88%

    The worker’s bent body, extended arms, and diagonally positioned scythe visually convey an active cutting gesture.

Visual Qualities

  • Earth Tones Visual · 97%

    The image is dominated by ocher, gold, tan, olive-green, blue, and muted reddish tones.

Medium and Techniques

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 100%

    The museum catalog identifies the medium as oil on wood.

  • Numerous short, directional strokes are visibly retained across the grain, clothing, vegetation, and sky, producing a broken textured surface.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 100%

    The catalog dates the work to 1881–82, placing it in the nineteenth century.

Geographic Regions

  • French Art Metadata · 99%

    The artist is identified in the catalog as French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris.

Source & rights

Georges Seurat. The Mower. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

High-resolution sources