“Spring Plowing” is an artwork by Edvard Munch, dating back to 1916. As a work of expressionism, it’s painted using oil on canvas and measures 84 x 109 cm. This genre painting is part of the collection at the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. The painting embodies the intensity and emotion characteristic of the Expressionist movement, diverging from a realistic representation and conveying a more subjective and emotionally charged perspective.
The painting portrays a vibrant, almost tumultuous landscape scene of farm labor. Two horses, one shaded with hues of orange and the other in cooler blues and blacks, are the primary subjects. They are harnessed to a piece of farm equipment, possibly a plow, and are being guided by a farmer, whose figure is stylized and seems integrated into the flow of the landscape. The depiction suggests movement and effort, with the horses seeming to merge with their environment through Munch’s use of swirling brushstrokes and a rich, dynamic color palette.
The background features a panoramic view with undulating hills, indicative of rural terrain in the midst of seasonal change. The sky is rendered with pastel colors, contrasting with the vivid earth tones and enriched shapes of the foreground, emphasizing the cyclic nature of agricultural work and the passage of time reflected in the changing seasons. Munch’s manipulation of form and color intensifies the emotional impact of the scene, instilling the painting with a sense of vitality and existential resonance that invites the viewer to engage with the universal themes of labor and connection to the land.
