“La Era (The Threshing Floor)” is a 1904 oil on canvas painting by Diego Rivera, capturing a landscape scene in the social realist style. The artwork measures 114.6 x 100 cm and portrays a rural setting emphasizing labor and agriculture.
The painting depicts a wide-open rural landscape dominated by a clear sky and a large mountain in the background, possibly a Mexican volcano. The foreground shows a figure—presumably a farmer—holding a plow that is being pulled by two dark horses. The farmer is wearing a large hat, providing shade, and is dressed in traditional clothing. This attire, along with the plow and horses, suggests a scene from the early 20th century or late 19th century, highlighting a rural way of life.
Behind the farmer and the horses, there’s a small structure with an open door, leading to a view of the fields beyond it, which shows rows that have been tilled or are ready to be worked on. To the right, there is a building with a red-tiled roof, which resembles a barn or a rural outbuilding, indicating that this is a farming scene. Shadow and light play prominently across the scene, with the warm tones of the earth contrasted with the cooler blue of the sky, creating a serene yet warm atmosphere, typical of Rivera’s early work before his style evolved into the more vivid and politically driven themes he is widely known for.