Quite the opposite is true of the picture Haymaking
(c. 1565). The range of colours is richer, white being used
solely for a horse and for clothes, while the landscape is
displayed in many shades of yellow, green and blue, with the
fruit and articles of clothing in the foreground even
painted bright red. Bruegel also uses landscape forms to
render seasons (and the feelings we associate with them)
visible. Large areas of the landscape in the picture of
winter are flat, as though pressed down and deadened by the
ice and snow. In the case of early summer, on the other
hand, he depicts a varied, rolling, hilly landscape; he has
even animated the sky, painting it not as a monochrome
surface but bright above the horizon and a rich blue at the
upper edge, and also adding clouds. This comparison reveals
the means employed by Bruegel - in addition to the concrete
details - to heighten the impression of the harshness of
winter or the vitality of early summer.
The painter even makes use of the figures to characterize
the seasons. In the one instance, weary hunters with
drooping shoulders are turning their backs upon the
observer. In the other, three young women are energetically
striding past the observer, one of them even looking
straight at him. If one takes the group of women together
with that formed by the three basket-carriers, one might
even be tempted to think of a dance-like arrangement, of
choreography. Such rhythm is rare in Bruegel's art; it, too,
reinforces the impression of vitality and joy of living in
harmony with Nature.
