This image seems to evoke themes of the stability of the family and the virtues of hard work. The burden of the weight of the basket can be seen in the angular inertia of the man's body, the helping hands the woman is offering, and the taught lines of the basket's harness.

In truth though, it may not be the basket of flowers that is so burdensome, but the reality of being an unskilled worker under a system of modern capitalism that is so very heavy.

The flowers are a symbol of pleasant luxury--but the flower carrier never sees them: for him they represent not pleasant use values, but only exchange values.

Ironically, the basket of beautiful flowers that the woman is helping to hoist onto the worker's back holds not only the promise of profit, but seems as though it may also be choking him.



See, The Virtual Diego Rivera Web Museum