1944-1945
Oil on canvas
54 x 65 cm
In 1943, the Directorate of Education of the Estonian Self-Administration, which organised cultural life during the German occupation, announced a competition for idea outlines. Eerik Haamer won the painting category of that competition with his work "Sheep Washers". This work was also the last large figurative painting that Haamer painted in his Estonian homeland. The work depicts sheep washers on the little island of Ruhnu (the population there has never numbered more than 400) – Ruhnu was a frequent theme in Haamer’s creative work both before and after leaving his Estonian homeland.
Four preliminary versions-sketches of "Sheep Washers" are known to have existed. One of them most probably has not survived. The remaining three, however, are intact and located in Estonia. This work is smaller, yet earlier and this particular preliminary version was also submitted to the competition.
Eerik Haamer had made a name for himself by the beginning of the 1940’s as an epic depictor of the life of people living on the seacoast, depicting the relationships between man and nature and between man and society. As such, his position in Estonian art was relatively unique and the art criticism of that time was very highly appreciative of him.