Millet: Paintings

"To tell the truth, the peasant subjects suit my temperament best; for I must confess, even if you think me a socialist, that the human side of art is what touches me most."

Jean-François Millet

Jean-François Millet (1814 – 1875) was a French painter and one of the initiators of the Barbizon school in countryside France. Millet is famous for his scenes of peasant farmers; he can be classified as part of the movements of Realism and Naturalism. Millet portrayed the gravity, hardship, and dignity of common agricultural labourers, but, despite being labelled a "Socialist revolutionary," his riot was less political than private. His humanity toward peasant life deeply impressed many painters, including Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Georges Seurat.