Jean Frasoy Millet went down in the history of world painting as a master of realism, although in its penetration the artist's works are comparable to the works of novelists. On all his canvases, one can notice the presence of a special glow, emanating not from human figures or objects, but from the picture itself. Modern criticism called this play of lighting in Millet's paintings the light of life.

Childhood and learning

Born on October 4, 1814 in the family of a wealthy peasant in the village of Gryushi, which is located in France. Until the age of 18 he worked in agriculture.

The artist grew up in a family to which two ministers of the church belonged at once, a father and an uncle. For this reason, his first education was deeply spiritual, although much attention was also paid to literature and, later, painting.

Parents supported Millet's talent and in 1837 he joined Paul Delaroche's workshop, where he stayed for two years. However, the relationship with the mentor did not work out, and soon from Paris he returned back to Cherbourg.

The beginning of creative activity

A year later, Millet married Pauline Virginia Ono and returned with her to the capital.

Although since 1840 he regularly exhibited his works at the Salon, real fame came to him only in 1848, when, having changed the topic (in particular, leaving portrait painting), the artist focused on the idea that became the leitmotif of his work.

In 1849 François left Paris for the village of Barbizon. In the morning he works in the fields, and in the evening he paints.

Millet devoted his main works to scenes of peasant labor and everyday life. In them, he reflected his understanding of the life of this class, the severity of their situation and forced poverty.

In his own words, a native of a peasant family, he has always been and remains so.

Fundamental ideas of creativity

In 1857, Millet completed work on his most famous painting, The Harvesters. The approval with which the critic met his work was unexpected even for the artist himself.

Millet managed to fall into the tone of the general mood created by the political events of the time.

He continued to work in the same genre, and two years later, the equally famous "Angelus" appeared. It repeated the artist's message in The Harvesters, but also contained the answer that Millet himself suggested.

The life that he portrayed was filled with humility and faith, capable of overcoming the difficult everyday life of the peasants.

Millet also painted pictures commissioned by the government, starting with the first serious works in the genre of genre in 1848, as well as "Peasant Woman Grazing a Cow" (1859), it is noteworthy that it was this that led him to change direction and brought him recognition.

Millet did not paint from life, his works were created exclusively from memory. From 1849 until the end of his life, Millet lived in Barbizon, the name of this place gave the name to the school, one of the founders of which he became.

Last years

In the mid-1860s, he turned to landscape painting, striving to express the unity of man with nature in his works.

In the last years of his work, such paintings were created as "Winter Landscape with Crows" (1866) and "Spring" (1868-1873).

These works by Millet indicated the state of the search he was in. For the artist, these were attempts to find and reflect in the paintings of nature harmony and justice, which he did not find in people's lives.

Millet died in 1875 in Barbizon, in the vicinity of which he was buried.

Although his works are of paramount importance in art for all artistic movements. He painted genre compositions, landscapes, created several portraits. Millet's painting "The Sower" inspired Van Gogh to create his compositions on a similar theme. And his "Angelus" was a favorite painting, a brilliant representative of surrealism. Then he turned to the images of "Angelus" all his life.

1. Biography. Childhood

Born in the village of Gryushi, near the city of Cherbourg, on the banks of the English Channel. He learned to read and write at school at the village church. Like all peasant children, he helped the family a lot in the field. Later he will write: “The nature of this land left an indelible impression on my soul, because it retained such an original creation that I sometimes felt like a contemporary of Bruegel (I meant Pieter Bruegel the Old, an outstanding artist from the Netherlands of the 16th century) ".

2. Study in Cherbourg

Noticing the talent in the child, the parents did everything possible to get their son out of the village. He was sent to Cherbourg, where he was placed in the studio of the painter Moshel, a local portraitist. François's successes led him to another studio to the painter Langlois. He so believed in the student, who received a scholarship for him from the Municipality of Cherbourg and the right to study in Paris. So the former redneck moved to the capital.

Once upon a time, his grandmother bequeathed him not to draw anything shameful, even when it was asked by the king himself. The grandson fulfilled the grandmother's will - and did a lot of useful things for the art of France, and the whole world.

3. Portraits of Francois Millet

In his first specialty, he is a portrait painter. He took and painted portraits. But I felt discontent. In addition, in Paris, he studied at the historical painter Delaroche. He did not feel pleasure either from Delaroche or from the then Paris. And so, because Paris is a desert for the poor. His soul rested in the Louvre Museum, because it was necessary to gain experience that no one could give him, except for the old masters of art.

Polina Ono is the artist's wife. They got married at. Four years later, Polina will die of consumption (tuberculosis). Not everything was in order with the paintings - no one bought them. The artist lived on money from the ordered portraits.

4. Village Barbizon

We didn’t go there for inspiration. It was just cheap to live there and not far from Paris. The village is located in the forest of Fontainebleau. Millet recalled that the peasant worked the land in Barbizon, like his father, and in his rare free hours he painted pictures. They are being sold little by little. And even the Minister of Internal Affairs bought one of the prices, ten times higher than the price of the artist.

But the number of outstanding landscape painters here was so large that the village became famous all over the world. He painted landscapes and Millet. And he felt that he was becoming a master, unlike anyone else. And in art this, after abilities and performance, is the main thing.

Among foreign artists, Millet was friends with the English virtuoso Frederick Leighton, remaining in nothing like him.

5. Landscapes of Millet

6. Rural France of the 19th century

7. Fagot collectors. Little masterpiece

In Mille it is almost impossible to find large-sized paintings: the length of the famous canvas "Angelus" is 66 cm, "the ear pickers" - 111 cm, "Rest in the Harvest" - 116 cm. And these seem to be the most.

The "brushwood gatherer" has also become a small masterpiece, only 37 by 45 cm. Nobody has ever written French women like that. Two figurines are trying to extract dry wood stuck. The work worthy of doing livestock is done by two peasant women themselves, without waiting for help. This is that scary world where you just can't wait for help.

The researchers were surprised - there is neither a spectacular composition nor bright colors. Nobody gets killed and nobody screams. And the audience clutched at their hearts. Millet turned the face of bourgeois society to the people, to the excessive labor of the peasants, to sympathy for those who worked hard and terribly on the land. He converted society (and French art) to humanism. And this overlapped both the small size of Millet's paintings, and the absence of coloristic treasures, theatrical gestures, shouts, etc. The bitter truth of today was returning to art.

His call is heard. Milla became an authority on painting. And as always, some shouted about his politicization, others saw in him an exclusivity, a phenomenon. His paintings began to buy well.

Once "the brushwood collectors" were acquired by Tretyakov. No, not Pavel, he bought and supported Russian artists, and then donated a gallery named after him to Moscow. Acquired by Pavel's brother - Sergei Tretyakov, collected works of artists from Europe. Usually he sent money to Paris to his agent, and he, at his own discretion, seeing worthy, bought and sent to Moscow. Both discretion and purchase turned out to be very successful. In Moscow, this is almost the only (apart from one more landscape) Millet's painting with a plot. But - a masterpiece.

8. Two recognized masterpieces: "Angelus" and "the ear-gatherer"

9. Etchings by Millet

Millet is one of the masters who turned to the creation of prints. This was not the main thing in his work, so he made several experiments in different techniques: six lithographs, two heliographies, six woodcuts. In total, he worked in the etching technique. Among them there are both repetitions of their paintings (etching "the ear-gatherer"), and quite independent plots. The etching "Death Takes the Woodcutter Peasant" was extremely successful, which was reminiscent of the high artistic quality of the masterpiece of the 16th century German master Hans Holbein from the "Dance of Death" series.

Millet was looking for a composition for a long time. The Louvre Museum preserves two drawings by François Millet from the first search for composition. Another drawing came to the Hermitage in 1929. The composition of the latter formed the basis for both etching and paintings on the same theme (New Karlsbergska Glypkoteka, Copenhagen).

10. Countries where Millet's works are kept

Sources of

• Dario Durb ?, Anna M. Damigella: Corot und die Schule von Barbizon. Pawlak, Herrsching 1988, ISBN 3-88199-430-0
• Andr? Ferigier: Jean-Fran? Ois Millet. Die Entdeckung des 19. Jahrhunderts. Skira-Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-88447-047-7
• Ingrid Hessler: Jean-Fran? Ois Millet. Landschaftsdarstellung als Medium individueller Religiosit? T. Dissertation, Universit? T M? Nchen 1983
• Estelle M. Hurll: Jean Fran? Ois Millet. A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter, with Introduction and Interpretation, New Bedford, MA, 1900. ISBN 1-4142-4081-3
• Lucien Lepoittevin: Jean Fran? Ois Millet - Au-del? de l "Ang? lus. Editions de Monza. Paris 2002, ISBN 978-2-908071-93-1
• Lucien Lepoittevin: Jean Fran? Ois Millet - Images et Symboles.? ditions ISO? TE Cherbourg 1990, ISBN 2-905385-32-4
• Alexandra R. Murphy (Hrsg.): Jean-Fran? Ois Millet, drawn into the light. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass. 1999, ISBN 0-87846-237-6
• Alfred Sensier: La vie et l "? Uvre de Jean-Fran? Ois Millet. Editions des Champs, Bricqueboscq 2005, ISBN 2-910138-17-8 (neue Auflage des Werks von 1881)
• Andrea Meyer: Deutschland und Millet. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin und Mönchen 2009. ISBN 978-3-422-06855-1
• One hundred etchings of the 16-19 centuries from the collection of the State Hermitage, L-M, 1964 (rus)
• Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, catalog of the art gallery, M, Fine Arts, 1986 (rus)

Jean-François Millet (French. Jean-François Millet, October 4, 1814 - January 20, 1875) - French artist, one of the founders of the Barbizon school.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST

His father served as an organist in a local church, one uncle of the future artist was a doctor, and the other was a priest. These facts say a lot about the cultural level of the future artist's family. Millet worked on a farm from an early age, but at the same time received a good education, studied Latin and retained his love for literature throughout his life. From childhood, the boy showed the ability to draw.

In 1833 he went to Cherbourg and entered the studio of the portrait painter du Mushel. Two years later, Millet changed his mentor - his new teacher was the battle painter Langlois, who was also the caretaker of the local museum. Here Millet discovered the works of old masters - primarily Dutch and Spanish artists of the 17th century.

In 1837, Millet entered the prestigious Paris School of Fine Arts. He studied with Paul Delaroche, a renowned artist who wrote several theatrical canvases on historical themes. Having quarreled with Delaroche in 1839, Jean François returned to Cherbourg, where he tried to raise money for his living with portraits.

In November 1841, Millet married Pauline Virginia Ono, the daughter of a Cherbourg tailor, and the young couple moved to Paris. At this time, Millet abandoned the portrait, moving on to small idyllic, mythological and pastoral scenes that were in great demand. In 1847, he presented at the Salon the painting The Child Oedipus Taken from the Tree, which received several favorable reviews.

Millet's position in the art world changed dramatically in 1848. This was partly due to political events, and partly due to the fact that the artist finally found a theme that helped him reveal his talent.

He received a government order for the painting "Hagar and Ishmael", but without completing it, he changed the subject of the order. This is how the famous "Ear Harvesters" appeared. The money received for the painting allowed Millet to move to the village of Barbizon near Paris.

The 1860s were much more successful for the artist. Once finding his own path, the artist never left it and managed to create a number of very serious works that were very popular among artists and collectors. Millet is rightfully considered almost the most popular painter of his time.

On January 20, 1875, at the age of 60, after a long illness, the artist died in Barbizon and was buried near the village of Challi, next to his friend Theodore Rousseau.

CREATION

The theme of peasant life and nature became the main theme for Millet.

He painted peasants with depth and penetration, reminiscent of religious images. His unusual manner has earned him a well-deserved recognition that is not subject to time.

His works are interpreted in completely different ways. The artist's work seemed to be simultaneously turned both into the past and into the future. Some found in Millet's paintings nostalgia for the patriarchal life that had collapsed under the onslaught of bourgeois civilization; others perceived his work as an angry protest against the oppression and oppression of the peasants. The past and the future are found not only in Millet's themes, but also in his style. He loved the old masters, which did not prevent him from feeling himself among realist artists. Realists rejected the historical, mythological and religious subjects that dominated "serious" art for a long time and focused on the surrounding life.

The words "peace" and "silence" characterize Millet's paintings in the best possible way.

On them we see the peasants, for the most part, in two positions. They are either absorbed in work, or take a break from it. But this is not a "low" genre. The images of the peasants are majestic and deep. From a young age, Millet never tired of going to the Louvre, where he studied the works of old masters. Especially admired and attracted his paintings, distinguished by transparency and solemnity.

When it comes to color, Millet was undeniably a 19th century painter. He knew what a "live" color, and skillfully used the sharp contrasts of light and shadow. Often, the artist covered the bottom layer of paint with another one, using a dry brush technique, which allowed him to create a hard textured surface. But Millet's background usually wrote very softly and smoothly. The canvas, consisting of “different-textured” parts, is a characteristic feature of his manner.

When Millet considered and painted his own paintings, he, in a sense, followed the precepts of the artists of the past. For each of them, as a rule, he made a lot of sketches and sketches - sometimes using the services of models, and sometimes giving free rein to his imagination.

Until the 1860s, Millet did not seriously study landscape. Unlike his Barbizon friends, he did not paint from life. Rural landscapes, necessary for paintings, Millet recalls. That is why on the artist's canvases there are so many views of Normandy, where he spent his childhood. Other landscapes have been recreated from sketches written in the 1860s near Vichy, where Millet's wife was recuperating on the advice of doctors.

In the mid-1840s, Millet tried to make a living by creating light and carefree paintings, stylizing the then fashionable Rococo style. These were mythological and allegorical canvases, as well as paintings of light erotic content, depicting a nude female nature (for example, "Lying Nude Woman"). Nymphs and bathers appeared on Millet's canvases of that time, he also wrote pastorals, depicting the rural world as an earthly paradise, and not an arena of exhausting struggle for a piece of bread. The artist himself called these works executed in a "flowery style". The painting "Whisper", 1846 (another name - "Peasant Woman and Child") also belongs to him.

MILLET'S INFLUENCE ON THE WORK OF OTHER ARTISTS

Later, Millet's paintings were promoted as an example to follow in communist countries, where culture was built on the principles of "socialist realism".

I was delighted with the painting "Angelus", creating a surreal version of it.

"Angelus" generally played a huge role in establishing Millet's posthumous fame. All the rest of his work was in the shadow of this canvas.

Moreover, it was his popularity that contributed to the fact that the name Millet became associated with the characteristic "sentimental artist". This formula was completely wrong. The artist himself did not consider himself to be such. And only very recently, after Millet's large exhibitions in Paris and London (1975-76), the artist was rediscovered, revealing in its entirety his unique artistic world.

In 1848, the famous critic and poet Théophile Gaultier wrote enthusiastically about the painting The Winder:

“He throws layers of paint onto his canvas - so dry that no varnish can cover it. You can't imagine anything more rude, furious and exciting. "

Millet Jean Francois

Both classicism and romanticism were far from modern life, since they idealized the past and mainly depicted plots from ancient times.

In the middle of the 19th century, the leading place in the visual arts of France was taken by the direction of realism, which was most of all interested in modernity, the everyday life of ordinary people. Realists sought to convey real-life people, nature - without distortion and embellishment. At the same time, they reflected, of course, the vices of modern life, seeking to help eliminate and correct them. This critical trend in art is commonly called critical realism, which flourished in the second half of the 19th century.

Realism in French painting made itself felt primarily in the landscape of artists of the so-called "Barbizon group", named after the village of Barbizon near Paris, where artists lived and painted for a long time.

At one time, Jean Francois Millet, a very famous French realist painter, lived in Barbizon. He was born in a peasant environment and forever retained a connection with the land. The peasant world is Millet's main genre. But the artist did not come to him right away. From his native Normandy in 1837 and in 1844 he came to Paris, where he gained fame for portraits and small paintings on biblical and antique subjects. However, Millet developed as a master of the peasant theme in the 40s, when he arrived in Barbizon and became close to the artists of this school.

From this time began the mature period of Millet's work. From now on and until the end of his creative days, the peasant becomes his hero. Such a choice of a hero and a theme did not meet the tastes of the bourgeois public, so Millet suffered material hardship all his life, but did not change the theme. In small-sized paintings, Millet created a generalized monumental image of the toiler of the earth ("The Sower" 1850). He showed rural labor as a natural state of man, as a form of his being. In work, the connection between man and nature is manifested, which ennobles him. Human labor multiplies life on earth. This idea permeates the paintings "The Gatherers of the Wheat", 1857, "Angelus", 1859.

Millet's painting is characterized by extreme laconicism, the selection of the main thing, which makes it possible to convey the universal meaning in the simplest, everyday pictures of everyday life. Millet achieves an impression of solemn simplicity of calm, peaceful work with the help of a three-dimensional image and an even color scheme.

Most of Millet's works are imbued with a sense of high humanity, peace, peace.

Millet's truthful and honest art, glorifying the working man, paved the way for the further development of this theme in the art of the second half of the 19th century.

Boiler (1853-54)

"Angelus" (Evening Prayer)

Before us is the descending evening, the last rays of the setting sun illuminate the figures of the peasant and his wife, who for a moment quit their work at the sound of the evening gospel. The muted color scheme is composed of soft, harmoniously composed reddish-brown, gray, blue, almost blue and lilac tones. The dark silhouettes of figures with bowed heads that stand out clearly above the horizon line further enhance the epic sound of the composition. "Angelus" is not just an evening prayer, it is a prayer for the dead, for all those who worked on this earth.

Man with a hoe

In contrast to the images of high humanity, peace, peace, we have a different image before us - here the artist expressed extreme fatigue, exhaustion, exhaustion by hard physical labor, but he also managed to show the huge dormant forces of a giant toiler.

The Ear Collectors (1857)

Millet's most famous work. This is a sad picture of poverty and sad labor. In the field illuminated by the last evening rays of the sun, the harvest ends. The bread gathered in heaps, not yet taken away from the field, sparkles with gold. A large cart is filled with bread to take it to the current. This whole picture, full of golden bread, a freshly harvested field, creates a mood of peace and tranquility. And, as if in contrast to this contentment and tranquility, the foreground of the painting depicts the figures of three women collecting rare, remaining spikelets on a compressed field in order to grind at least a handful of flour out of them. Their weary backs are heavily bent, their coarse fingers hardly grasp the thin, fragile spikelets. Clumsy clothing hides age, it seems that hard work and need have made both young and old equal. The artist uses a wide range of colors in the painting - from golden brown to reddish green.

Peasant Woman Guarding a Cow (1859)

Recreation

Peasant with a wheelbarrow

Peasant women with brushwood

Maternal care (1854-1857)

Young Woman (1845)

Night Bird Hunting (1874)

Dandelions. Pastel.

The Shepherdess of the Geese (1863)

Shepherdess with her flock (1863)

Landscape of the Italian Coast (1670)

Landscape with Christ and his disciples

Sawers in the forest

Midday Rest (1866)

Planting potatoes

Laundresses on the river

Grafting a tree

Rural Farm Tour

The Sower (1850)

Death and the Woodcutter (1859)

Washing

Calf born in the field

Knitting lesson

Spring digging

Whipping Butter (1866-1868)

Harvesting brushwood

Woman bakes bread

Jean François Millet found his calling in the depiction of pictures of rural life. He painted peasants with depth and penetration, reminiscent of religious images. His unusual manner has earned him a well-deserved recognition that is not subject to time.

Jean François Millet was born on October 4, 1814 in the village of Gruchy, Normandy. His father served as an organist in a local church, one uncle of the future artist was a doctor, and the other was a priest. These facts say a lot about the cultural level of the future artist's family. Millet worked on a farm from an early age, but at the same time received a good education, studied Latin and retained his love for literature throughout his life. From childhood, the boy showed the ability to draw. In 1833 he went to Cherbourg and entered the studio of the portrait painter du Mushel. Two years later, Millet changed his mentor - his new teacher was the battle painter Langlois, who was also the caretaker of the local museum. Here Millet discovered the works of old masters - primarily Dutch and Spanish artists of the 17th century.

In 1837, Millet entered the prestigious Paris School of Fine Arts. He studied with Paul Delaroche, a renowned artist who wrote several theatrical canvases on historical themes. Having quarreled with Delaroche in 1839, Jean François returned to Cherbourg, where he tried to raise money for his living with portraits. He received an order for a posthumous portrait of the former mayor of Cherbourg, but the work was rejected due to its slight resemblance to the deceased. To make ends meet, the artist earned for some time by writing signs.

In November 1841, Millet married Pauline Virginia Ono, the daughter of a Cherbourg tailor, and the young couple moved to Paris. He was struggling in the grip of poverty, which became one of the reasons for the death of his wife. She died of tuberculosis in April 1844, at the age of 23. After her death, Millet left for Cherbourg again. There he met 18-year-old Catherine Lemer. Their civil marriage was registered in 1853, but they got married only in 1875, when the artist was already dying. From this marriage, Millet had nine children.

"Oedipus the Child Taken from the Tree"

In 1845, after spending a short time in Le Havre, Millet (together with Catherine) settled in Paris.
At this time, Millet abandoned the portrait, moving on to small idyllic, mythological and pastoral scenes that were in great demand. In 1847, he presented at the Salon the painting The Child Oedipus Taken from the Tree, which received several favorable reviews.

Millet's position in the art world changed dramatically in 1848. This was partly due to political events, and partly due to the fact that the artist finally found a theme that helped him reveal his talent. During the revolution, King Louis-Philippe was overthrown and power passed into the hands of the republican government. All this was reflected in the aesthetic preferences of the French. Instead of historical, literary or mythological plots, images of ordinary people have gained popularity. In the Salon of 1848, Millet showed the painting "The Winder", which perfectly met the new requirements.

"Winder"

(1848)

101 x 71 cm
National Gallery, London

On this canvas, Millet for the first time outlined the rural theme, which became the leading one in his work. At the Salon of 1848, the painting was greeted with enthusiasm, although some critics noted the roughness of the writing. The canvas was bought by the French government minister Alexandre Ledru-Rollin. The next year he fled the country, and the painting disappeared with him. It was even believed that it burned down in a fire in Boston in 1872. Millet later wrote two more versions of The Winder, and these copies were known. In 1972, exactly one hundred years after the alleged death, the original "Winder" was found in the United States, in the attic of one of the houses. The painting (only heavily soiled on top) turned out to be in good condition and even in the original frame, on which the registration number of the Salon has been preserved. It was shown at two anniversary exhibitions dedicated to the centenary of Millet's death. In 1978, the Winder was bought at a New York auction by the National Gallery in London.

The red headdress, white shirt and blue trousers of the peasant correspond to the colors of the French republican flag. The face of the fan is in the shadows, making the figure of this hard worker anonymous and generalized.
In contrast to the fan's face, his right hand is highly illuminated. This is the hand of a person accustomed to constant physical labor.
The thrown grain forms a golden cloud and stands out sharply against the dark background. The sifting process takes on a symbolic meaning in the picture: the grain of new life is separated from the chaff.

He received a government order for the painting "Hagar and Ishmael", but without completing it, he changed the theme of the order. This is how the famous "Collectors of ears" appeared.

"Harvesters of ears"

1857)
83,5x110 cm
Dorse Museum, Paris

The canvas depicts three peasant women collecting spikelets left after the harvest (this right was given to the poor). In 1857, when the painting was shown at the Salon, the peasants were seen as a potentially dangerous, revolutionary force. By 1914, Millet's masterpiece began to be perceived differently - as a symbol of French patriotism. It was even reproduced on a poster calling for membership in the national army. Today, many critics, recognizing the enduring value of the picture, find it too sentimental. The reclining figures of peasant women resemble a classic fresco. The outlines of the figures echo with the stacks of bread in the background, which underscores the insignificance of what fell to the lot of these poor women. Millet's images inspired many artists who followed him. Like Pissarro, Van Gogh and Gauguin, Millet sought in the peasant life the ideal of a patriarchal world, not yet infected with the pernicious breath of civilization. They all thought about fleeing from the city to the harmony of rural life. In the 1850s, such predilections were not too welcomed - firstly, the peasant mass was viewed as a source of revolutionary danger, and secondly, many did not like the fact that the images of ignorant peasants were elevated to the level of national heroes and biblical characters. At the same time, the rural theme was quite common in the then painting, but the peasants in the existing tradition were portrayed either pastorally, or, on the contrary, ironically. The situation changed with the arrival of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. In particular, Pissarro was constantly interested in the realities of everyday peasant labor, and in Van Gogh the peasant invariably embodied the simplicity and spiritual sublimity lost by modern society.

Millet started with a pencil sketch and then began to apply the primary colors. At this stage of the work he used heavily diluted paints - Prussian blue and titanium white for the sky, raw umber for haystacks, and raw umber, with the addition of crimson and white, for the field. To paint the clothes of the peasant women, Prussian blue (mixed with whitewash) was taken for one scarf, indigo (with whitewash) for the skirt and red Winsor (with crimson and whitewash) for the oversleeve and another scarf.

Millet used Prussian blue as the main color for the sky, superimposed on top of mauve clouds painted with crimson and whitewash. The left side of the sky is highlighted with yellow ocher highlights. The earth required a complex color derived from burnt umber, burnt sienna, crimson, cobalt blue, cobalt green, and white. As in the sky, the artist applied more and more dark layers of paint where it was necessary to depict irregularities on the surface of the earth (they are visible in the foreground). At the same time, it was necessary to closely follow the black contours, preserving the drawing.

Millet then took up the scene around the haystacks in the background. He recreated it in parts, gradually deepening the color on complex shapes and figures. The haystacks are painted with yellow ocher, with the addition of raw umber in the dark areas; distant figures - Winsor red paint, indigo, Prussian blue and whitewash. The flesh tones are composed of burnt sienna and white.

At the last stage, Millet returned to the figures of the main characters of the picture. He deepened the dark folds of the garment, and then added the necessary tones, repeating this process until the desired color depth was achieved. After that, the artist painted the highlights. For the left figure, Prussian blue was taken (with the addition of burnt sienna, for the hat); for the dark areas of her face and neck - raw umber with the addition of burnt umber and black paint; for a skirt - Prussian blue with the addition of indigo; for the hand - burnt sienna and raw umber. The red on the right figure is painted with Winsor red mixed with burnt sienna and yellow ocher; blue collar - in Prussian blue and whitewash; undershirt - Prussian blue, raw umber and whitewash with the addition of Vinzor red paint; blouse - with whitewash, partially darkened with raw umber and Prussian blue; skirt - Prussian blue mixed with burnt sienna (to give the fabric a dark greenish tint).

Much depended on how skillfully the highlights were done. For example, the white shirts in the background create a hazy effect. This intensity of glare adds a sense of depth, making the shapes look three-dimensional. Without this, the image would look flat.

The richness of color in this area of ​​the picture was achieved not so much by adding new layers as by processing the already applied paint. Millet worked with his fingers, smearing paint or removing it from the canvas. Removing excess paint that has already been used is much more important than adding new paint!

The money received for the painting allowed Millet to move to the village of Barbizon near Paris. This move was caused by the fact that the situation in the capital again aggravated. The cholera epidemic was added to all the troubles. Barbizon has long been considered an artistic place; a whole colony of artists lived here, who created the famous "Barbizon school". “We're going to be here for a while,” Millet wrote shortly after arriving in Barbizon. As a result, he lived in Barbizon for the rest of his life (not counting the period of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), when Millet was hiding with his family in Cherbourg).

Millet. Millet was also helped by his Barbizon friends, most notably Theodore Rousseau, whose successes were sharply marked in the 1850s. Once Rousseau even anonymously bought Millet's paintings at the Salon, posing as a wealthy American.

And yet, at first, the need made itself felt from time to time. A lot of blood spoiled Millet and critics, whose attitude to his painting was far from unambiguous. It has become a rule for them to interpret the artist's paintings based on their own socio-political predilections. Conservatives saw peasants as a potential threat to political stability and found Millet's images crude and even provocative. On the other hand, leftist critics believed that his paintings elevated the image of the working person. Such an analysis slid on the surface, without revealing the true meaning of Millet's artistic world.

"Angelus"

(1857-59)

55x66 cm
Dorse Museum, Paris

This painting was commissioned by Millais by the American artist Thomas Appleton, who was fascinated by The Harvesters. Millet wrote to the peasant and his wife at sunset. They stand with bowed voices, listening to the church bell calling for evening prayer. This prayer is recited by Catholics three times a day. The work was named after its first words ("Angelus Domini", which means "Angel of the Lord"). Appleton, for unknown reasons, did not buy the painting, and for ten years it changed hands, appearing at exhibitions from time to time. Its simplicity and pathos of piety fascinated the audience, and soon a reproduction of this work appeared in almost every French house. In 1889, when the painting was again offered for sale, the Louvre and a consortium of American sales agents fiercely fought for it. The Americans won, having paid a record amount for that time (580,000 francs) for Millet's painting. This was followed by a tour of the picture in the cities of America. Later, in 1909, it was bought and donated to the Louvre by one of the French moneybags.

The figure of a man forms a "columnar" contour. Millet managed to write this image in such a way that we clearly see how awkwardly the man turns the hat removed from his head in his hands, accustomed to rough work.

The long, dark handle and fork trident contrast effectively with the rough texture of the freshly plowed soil.

The woman is depicted in profile, which stands out against the background of the light sunset sky.

In the background, the spire of the church stands out over the horizon. The canvas depicts the church in Challie (near Barbizon), although in general this plot was inspired by Millet's childhood memories. Hearing the bells ringing, his grandmother always stopped to read Angelus.

"Death and the woodcutter"

(1859)

77x100 cm
Glyptotek Nu Carlsberg, Copenhagen

The plot of the picture is borrowed from La Fontaine's fable. The old woodcutter, tired of overwork, asks Death to save him from suffering. However, when Death appears to him, the old man is horrified and begins to convulsively cling to life. This plot is unusual not only for Millet, but for painting in general. However, in the 18th century it was already used by the artist Joseph Wright (Millet hardly knew about the existence of this painting). Millet's work was rejected by the jury of the Salon in 1859 - more for political than artistic reasons. (At that time, lumberjacks were considered a socially dangerous layer, and therefore the sympathy with which the old man is depicted could alert conservative-minded jury members).

In his left hand, Death holds a curved hourglass, symbolizing the transience of time and the inevitability of death.

On the shoulder of Death is a scythe with which it cuts off a person's life like a reaper cutting off a ripe ear.
The legs of Death protruding from under the shroud are hideously thin. They're just bones covered in leather.

The woodcutter turns his head away in horror, but Death is already tightly squeezing his throat with his icy hand.

The 1860s were much more successful for the artist. His works were in great demand among collectors. Much credit for this belongs to the Belgians E. Blank and A. Stevens. In 1860, Millet signed a contract with them, under which he pledged to supply 25 paintings to them for sale every year. Over time, he found the terms of the contract too onerous and terminated it in 1866. But the numerous exhibitions organized by the Belgians had already done their job, and Millet's popularity continued to grow.
At the Salon of 1864, the audience very warmly received a lovely scene from rural life called "The Shepherdess Guarding the Herd."

The years of poverty are over. The artist has known glory. In 1867, when an exhibition of his works was held as part of the Paris World Exhibition, he became a Knight Commander of the Legion of Honor.

Millet has always been partial to landscape and in the last years of his life, inspired by the example of his friend Theodore Rousseau, he worked mainly in this genre.

In 1868-74, he painted a series of paintings on the theme of the seasons for the collector Frederick Hartmann. These canvases can be called one of the peaks in the artist's work.

"Spring"

(1868-73)

86x 111 cm
Dorse Museum, Paris

This is the first of four paintings in the Seasons series. Currently, all four paintings are in different museums. Millet got complete freedom from the collector Frederick Hartman, who commissioned the entire series, and therefore all four canvases are rather arbitrarily related to each other. Each is an independent work, although taken together, of course, reflect the characteristics of each season, thereby conveying the dynamics of natural clocks. Spring depicts a rural garden after a rain. The sun breaks through the thunderclouds carried away, and the young foliage, washed by the rain, plays with all shades of emerald color. Lively lighting, simplicity and ease of composition create an exciting atmosphere of freshness inherent in any spring season.

In the upper left corner of the picture rises a rainbow playing with bright colors. It stands out clearly against the background of a gray stormy sky.

Blooming fruit trees shine in the sun and seem to echo the trees of Van Gogh, which will be painted by him in Arles in 1888. (In 1887, Van Gogh saw Millet's "Spring" at an exhibition in Paris).

In the foreground, the earth and vegetation shimmer with bright colors, creating a living background of the picture, which seems to move and change every second.

Millet's last work, Winter, was never finished. The breath of death is already felt in it. At the end of 1873, Millet became seriously ill. In May 1874, he received a prestigious commission for a series of paintings from the life of Saint Genevieve (heavenly patroness of Paris) for the Pantheon, but managed to make only a few preliminary sketches. On January 20, 1875, at the age of 60, the artist died in Barbizon and was buried near the village of Challi, next to his friend Theodore Rousseau.