Jean-Francois Millet

The Angelus, The Gleaners — peasant dignity

The painter who gave peasant labor monumental dignity. The Angelus and The Gleaners — figures bent over the earth in attitudes of prayer and toil — shocked the Salon by treating rural workers with the seriousness reserved for saints and heroes. Van Gogh idolized him.

Key works

• The Angelus1857-1859— Two figures praying at dusk — once the most reproduced painting in the world
  Musee d'Orsay, Paris
• The Gleaners1857— Three women gleaning — labor as grandeur
  Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Connections

External