Millet

I like Millet’s art. I especially like “L’ Angelus”.
I will explain about the picture.


Explanation

There is a married couple in center. In evening, after they finish their hard work at fields, they are saying their prayers while they are standing and look down. The fields spread out as horizon, but there are few green there. It does not look like fertile fields. And I can see there is a church at right near horizon. The church is in neighboring village. The married couple says their prayer while they listen to the bell.

The man stands in left erect the scythe at ground. The scythe probably was used for work in fields by the man. He is holding his hat. He looks down because he prays. But I think that he look like to feel embarrassed.
On the other hands, the woman standing in right praying eagerly with her head drooping. There are many baskets of potatoes and a wheelbarrow.


The theme of “L’ Angelus” is farmers live in countryside in their true colors. Millet didn’t draw beautiful and sweet pastoral landscape. He stuck to the truth of the countryside. But contrary to his thought, “L’ Angelus” was regard as religious arts and a protest against society. Many critics and citizens thought that the picture is a protest against society, because a revolution happened at Paris in those days.




Subject

Now, I will explain the times.
In the time, Revolution of February happened in Paris. Revolution of February was happened by citizens. The citizen had complaint against pressure of absolutism then. The revolution is radical. They tried to realize the ideal of republican. After that, the monarchy was overthrown. The citizens desired for republican, and citizen movement was expanding. As a result,

As a result, instead of the traditional opposition between aristocracy and civil, the upper bourgeoisie and the proletarian working class has been clearly appeared.

At that time, the radicals who try to reform were sympathetic, and the conservative was a critical way about the Millet painting. The picture was object of debate about politics.

But Napoleon III turned this phenomenon. He picked on Millet’s picture for the sake of sympathy of the large majority of the people. And for the political ploy make public the picture on a large scale.
However, the most confused person was Millet. He just drew real farmers. Millet wanted to be evaluated the value of it purely. He hated use of pictures for political.

Millet left many artworks of farmers. Why did he chose what does the farmer.
It is involved in the upbringing of Millet. He was born in a small rural place called Normandy as the son of a farmer. And he grew up until nearly 20 years to become a painter in Paris. Then he was seeing the sight of my father and mother work there. He knew the pain of working farmers. And he must have been drawn the bare truth.


Realism

The time he was living, Realism arts is winning popularity. Realism respects objective reality, and indicates the expression of art portraying the bare truth. The object is never distorted, abstracted and idealized. Realism came down much interest to reality from the previous romanticism. And instead of special events, persons in history or extraordinary drama, the reality of the time and life of people was set a high value. People did not require a classical education and noble history painting, and clearly and vulgar subjects was drawn actively. It is because the civil society change, and people who is not noble could get pictures in 19th century.

There are such his words.
“The thing can create all a lot of things in countryside and sound of bell is reality of expression.”
Through the words, we can realize his realism and his style of arts.






I think that Millet influenced on history of arts. And his work influenced on Gogh’s work too.
He determined the stream of realism. I think that “L’ Angelus” show us the spirit in realism.




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