The working draft for Récolter des Figues / Fig Harvest. My mother would often do a very quick sketch of a selected subject. Sometimes these draft pictures would be simple line drawings with a brief notation on colors, other times she would try to actually do as much of the painting as possible in the time available. Then later on refine the composition and detail.

Fortunately, we still have a final version of the Fig Harvest. It’s very informative to note the differences to see what she thought would make for a better composition. Check the finished version to see that the male figure is a little shorter and his head no longer covers the dark branch of the tree behind him, now that branch is used to frame him. Most other changes are refinements of the details except for the faces of the farmers. Here in the original those faces are noticeably more detailed and the final version a bit less recognizable.