# The Harvest of Buckwheat

- By: Paul Sérusier (French, 1864–1927)
- Date: 1899
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 129.5 × 78.5 cm (51 × 30 7/8 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Gift of Lucia Woods Lindley
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/235046)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/47634d3f-1ac9-4631-b9ea-5c40fda489be/full/!1352,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The Harvest of Buckwheat demonstrates how Paul Sérusier’s interest in Japanese art influenced his painting. The simplified forms and asymmetrical composition are elements also found in Japanese prints, which circulated widely in France in the late 1800s. The vertical format, too, recalls the panels of Japanese wall hangings or screens.

Sérusier shared an affinity for Japanese aesthetics with his fellow members of the Nabis, a group of artists whose name, coined by poet Henri Cazalis, comes from the Hebrew word for prophet. The group believed that painting should be decorative as opposed to purely representational. As a result, they sought formats and approaches that departed from traditional easel painting.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0