Jean-François Millet (1814-1875)

Millet is a French painter of the 19th century, he is close to the realist movement initiated by Courbet. Known as the painter of the countryside and the farmers, he attached a specific importance to the workers and the underdogs. Millet's paintings are poetics and glorify a peasant aesthetic, as can be seen in paintings such as "le repos des Faneurs" (the resting of the tedders) (1848), Les Glaneuses (the Gleaners) (1857), la Tondeuse de moutons (the Sheep Shearer) (1861), ... At the end of his life, Millet further explored the play of light and contrasts. This work was a source of inspiration for the future Impressionists who reinterpreted some of his works, as Vincent Van Gogh did for example.