Realism · 1857
Jean-François Millet 1814–1875
Musée d'Orsay · Paris
Three peasant women stoop to gather leftover grain — Millet's monumental dignity for the rural poor unsettled the bourgeoisie.
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Chapter 1 of 7
Before you stands one of the most quietly radical paintings of the nineteenth century. In 1857, Jean-François Millet gave three peasant women the monumental scale of ancient heroines. When it was shown at the Paris Salon, landowners called it dangerous — a painting that dared to honor the very poorest laborers in France.
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