The Gleaners

The Gleaners is an oil painting created by Jean-Francois Millet in 1857. It depicts three peasant women gleaning wheat in a field after the harvest. The women are portrayed in a sympathetic and dignified manner as they salvage grains of wheat left over from the harvest. Millet’s realistic and unsentimental style depicts the hard labor and valor of rural life. The painting provides social commentary on the struggles of the rural poor.
Millet was a French Realist artist known for his genre paintings depicting peasant farmers. His art aimed to convey the dignity of rural labor through realistic and unidealized depictions of peasant life. The Gleaners is one of Millet’s most famous works, highlighting his Realist style and social conscience by bringing the gritty realities of peasant life into high art.
The worn and patched clothing of the gleaners signifies their poverty and hard lives. Yet their upright poses and focus on their task convey a sense of purpose and perseverance. The vastness of the field around them, the comparison of figures to the wheat sheaves, and the cloudy sky lend a poetic sense of scale emphasizing their anonymous toil. The style is simple but masterful, with expressive brushstrokes defining the gleaners’ stoic features and threadbare sleeves.
Other famous works by Millet include The Sower, The Angelus, and The Potato Harvesters. Millet sought to ennoble images of rural peasant labor, conveying heroic deprivation and humanity. His paintings provided social commentary on the conditions of the rural poor.
The Gleaners has become an iconic work of Realism, demonstrating how art can provide insight into society and champion humanitarian causes. Millet’s vision of the quiet dignity of the gleaners continues to resonate with audiences today, a testament to Realism’s ability to convey deep humanity and purpose. The painting has come to represent Realism’s goal of social conscience and commitment to reflecting the lives of common people.