The Harvest Moon

Samuel Palmer sought spiritual fulfillment outside of traditional religious doctrine, instead revering nature as evidence of divine creation. He transformed familiar motifs, such as trees, valleys, peasants, and the night sky, into visionary landscapes. In The Harvest Moon, Palmer portrayed laborers bundling sheaves of corn into the night, an agricultural practice that was common at the time during harvest season. But the composition is not simply a naturalistic representation of peasant labor; bathed in the celestial amber light of the full moon and painted in an unpretentious style, the scene assumes a mystical quality. The ghostly bodies of the peasants express none of the toil of their labor but rather seem to dance with the rhythm of nature.