A Picture Says A Thousand Words

A man wakes up at the crack of dawn and is embraced by a loving wife who prepares him his lunch for his long day at work. He makes his daily route towards the corner market where he is picked up by the white working truck already filled up with other working men. As they make their way towards the fields they take a look at all the houses that are beginning to light up in the sign of their awakening. The workers finally arrive to their destination, a place that has become so familiar even come close to being called their second home. No need to explain the day’s work, it has become second nature to them, the workers head out to their station and assume the position as they begin picking out the potatoes. Fellow workers gather as the bag becomes full and simply replace it with another empty bag to be filled up soon. The hard work seems to be endless especially under the scorching sun, but this is the only job an undocumented worker can obtain. He spends his whole day on his knees until the relief of the bell that informs them it’s time for lunch break, but the lunch break and the freedom from work is short lived as the fifteen minutes fly by and he has to go back to work until the sun sets and it’s time to go home. There are no wall clocks letting him know how much longer there is for work, it is the sun that tells him the time and how much further the days tasks are to remain. Once the day is gone and the sun has finally set the worker makes his way to the white working truck and follows the same route home until the next break of dawn when he once more will rise and set out to the same route till the sunset lets him free to his home.

SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS

The artist portrays the big basket which seems to be the main focus by the size of it and the fact that its centered in the painting. We then notice the man under the basket and we begin to understand that the artist main focus is the story behind the man and the big basket he is about to carry. The woman putting the basket on his back doesn't seem to be forcing it on him but seems to be doing it with ease. The painting overall doesn't have dark tones but instead halm calm warm and bright colors that give a sense that the artist Diego Rivera wanted to show the beauty of the hard work of a campesino instead of using this piece of art to portray the negativity. Instead Rivera uses the painting to glorify the hard work the campesinos go through everyday