The beet harvest

Emile Claus painted "The Beet Harvest" here on this field, close to his home and studio, the "Villa Zonneschijn" in Astene near the Lys, which he himself so named. It is a monumental canvas, an almost lifelike "tranche de vie" of 3.30 meters high and 4.80 meters wide. Claus probably worked on the canvas in the autumn months of 1888 and 1889, during the full beet harvest. The painter set up the enormous canvas, hanging from a picket fence, in its entirety in the open air of the beet field. Claus often had extras from Astene pose. Adèle Rogghe and Henri Van Laere were neighbours and figure in the foreground in "The Beet Harvest". "Every painting by Claus has a history, is a history," is how writer Karel van de Woestijne summed up the artist's oeuvre. His work was appreciated and bought by the bourgeoisie who went to admire art on a Sunday afternoon. She stood in dubious admiration for this kind of visualization of country life, for the bodies that smelled of sweat and bent over the heavy ground. Emile Claus has remained very fond of "The Beet Harvest". The painter even gave the work a pet name. He called it "his betteraven" and it would remain in his studio for the rest of his life. Years after his death, in 1942, his widow donated the painting permanently to the Museum of Deinze and the Lys Region.

Pascal Brackman