The Gleaners, a painting by none other than the French artist, Jean-François Millet, is an
original work from 1857. The painting is an extraordinary composition of realistic work
that portrays the social movement from the time period after the French Revolution.
Millet’s meticulous yet soft work is an oil painting that depicts three peasant women in
common work attire all bent forward in an effort to gather what appear to be stalks of
grain.
The first woman on the leftmost side is searching with her right hand. The woman in the
middle is grasping something with her right hand. The woman on the right side, however,
is not as bent over and is instead examining the ground. The ground from which they are
collecting these stalks seems to be covered scarcely with grass. Nonetheless, the gentle
strokes of the lines in the grass from the painting and the women bent over implies a
repetitive and smooth textured movement through the still art work. Furthermore, the
general direction in which the women seem to be focusing on serves as the implied line in
the painting.
In the far distance behind these women, there seems to be several haystacks, abundant
grains, and farm animal—which is very likely to be the negative space as intended by
Millet. The immediate contrast between the brighter, bustling background and the dim yet
empty space in the front of the painting not only makes the women seem “glorified” in
their warm-colored clothing, but also creates balance and conveys a serious, thoughtful
mood.
Though the painting originally earner little notoriety and much criticism when it was first
revealed by Jean-François Millet, it is now proudly exhibited at the Orsay
Museum in Paris, France.
http://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/realism/v/
millet-gleaners-1857?v=Dk1nuM5JKqQ
http://www.musee-orsay.fr/index.php?id=851&L=1&tx_commentaire_pi1%5BshowUid
%5D=341
http://elconquistador.org/?page_id=6692