This painting shows the preparations for potato-planting on a late spring evening in the Stockholm archipelago – with humans as draught animals. Axel Sjöberg often painted scenes from the archipelago, where he lived in the 1890s. Sjöberg bought a farm there and was involved in the conditions for the islanders. His social awareness is evident in this painting, but the formal composition is just as significant, showing a kinship with symbolist synthetist painting.