This painting shows a group of people engaging in an outdoor activity. On the left, woman in a brown dress, a tan smock or apron, and a cream hat with a red ribbon faces the right and holds a silver bucket as she leans against a large gray rock or wall. Another woman stands behind her, looking down at the ground, wearing a white dress and a yellow hat with a light blue ribbon. On the right, other people sit or kneel on the bright green ground, including a woman or girl in a yellow dress, two men or boys in white shirts with vests and suspenders, and two other people on the right who are mostly obscured. These people all look down at the ground, and many of them also have buckets. All of the people with visible faces or hands have pale skin. The ground is filled with tall green grass and flowers in shades of yellow, blue, and white, along with small red berries. Farther away on the right, the land meets a distant body of blue water. In the background on the left are several small gray hut-like structures. The sky above is a pale blue-white color.
Read the visual description

This painting shows a group of people engaging in an outdoor activity. On the left, woman in a brown dress, a tan smock or apron, and a cream hat with a red ribbon faces the right and holds a silver bucket as she leans against a large gray rock or wall. Another woman stands behind her, looking down at the ground, wearing a white dress and a yellow hat with a light blue ribbon. On the right, other people sit or kneel on the bright green ground, including a woman or girl in a yellow dress, two men or boys in white shirts with vests and suspenders, and two other people on the right who are mostly obscured. These people all look down at the ground, and many of them also have buckets. All of the people with visible faces or hands have pale skin. The ground is filled with tall green grass and flowers in shades of yellow, blue, and white, along with small red berries. Farther away on the right, the land meets a distant body of blue water. In the background on the left are several small gray hut-like structures. The sky above is a pale blue-white color.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

Berry Pickers

Winslow Homer

Date
1873
Medium
watercolor and gouache over graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 24.45 × 34.93 cm (9 5/8 × 13 3/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
2014.18.16
Credit line
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Time span
1851 to 1875
Department
CG-W

Subjects and terms

  • plant
  • group
  • figure
  • child
  • portrait
  • Hat
  • Sea
Provenance

Lawson Valentine, New York, by 1878; Lucy Houghton Valentine (Mrs. Lawson Valentine), 1891; Almira Valentine Pulsifer (Mrs. Nathan Trowbridge Pulsifer) her daughter, 1911; Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer), New York, her son, nd; Susan Nichols Pulsifer (Mrs. Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer), in trust, 1948; Alice Pulsifer Doyle (Mrs. Joseph Doyle), his niece, 1987; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; bequest of Mrs. Paul Mellon to NGA, 2014.

Inscription

lower right, in watercolor: HOMER July 1873

Watermarks

J Whatman / 1872

NGA object ID 164926. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.