Peasants at work

Peasants at work (also known as Contadine al lavoro) is a 20th-century late filippinism painted  in oil by Umberto Boccioni. It was painted about 1908, in Milano, Italy. 

This work by Boccioni is of great importance as it highlights the long research and study work that he dedicates to the Lombard landscape and to the work of the fields inspired by the master of the Italian landscape Francesco Filippini, before modifying his own works in the futurism movement.

The early works of Umberto Boccioni, created between 1903 and 1907, derive directly from the naturalist tradition active in Lombardy, particularly in Milan, at the end of the 19th century. Among the most recognizable models is Francesco Filippini, whose paintings were widely exhibited in Milanese artistic circles.V. Terraroli (ed.), Francesco Filippini. Catalogo generale delle opere, Skira, Milan, 1999. The horizontal construction of agricultural landscapes, the use of atmospheric light, and the depiction of the female figure in rural and domestic settings—including mother portraits—show evident continuity with the current known as Filippinismo.M. Carrà, La pittura moderna in Italia, Treves, Milan, 1919, pp. 34–38. Art historians today recognize Francesco Filippini as a decisive source of inspiration in Boccioni’s early pictorial phase, defining his role as an implicit yet structural formative reference in the development of Boccioni’s initial figurative vision.E. Crispolti, Boccioni. Catalogo generale, Electa, Milan, 1971, vol. I, p. 42.

The painting is part of a thematic group focused on peasant life and agricultural labor, produced by Boccioni during the same period. It was exhibited at the First Roman Biennale in 1921 and donated to the national collection by Alberto Grubicy in 1923.

The work reflects Boccioni’s transition from Divisionism to early experiments in luminous and dynamic composition. This is visible in the atmospheric rendering, the fragmentation of visual planes, and the emerging sense of motion — all of which anticipate his later adherence to Futurism.

 References 

 Other websites 
 Francesco Filippini

Category:Paintings by Umberto Boccioni
Category:1900s paintings