August Jansen

After World War II, many felt deprived. Longing for the old days that seemed to be irretrievably lost. Already during the war, many artists turned to farm motifs, which embodied, in their opinion, the core of an independent Estonia: archaic work, closeness to nature. August Jansen has chosen this motif, which is very familiar to him, after the war, but he steps even further outside the Soviet era. Nothing in this painting indicates the time of the painting's completion, but as a large-scale almost manifesto, Jansen refers back to the past. The blue sky, the farm yard flooded with light, the trees in leaves and flowers leave no doubt that Jansen idealizes farm life. The central scene of the painting even seems a little dramatic, but instead of the horse bucking, we can rather see the joint effort of man and animal. Probably one of the most important painting of Jansen's late work. Lauri's farm was located in Jansen's home village.