His art has seemingly nothing to say about the industrial revolution, the growth of the cities or the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. For the critic and student, his art is certainly rich veins of social and artistic material but offers few clear new “angles”. For the leftist, he is not radical enough politically. Although he is a painter of working people, his art is not overtly reformist. He is not an artist of fragments he is not wracked by doubt and his paintings are not conspicuously hard wrought.
On a technical level, Millet presents us no problems. On a casual level judging themes and motifs, Millet seems a serving of stodgy worthiness drenched in saccharine sentimentality. This is perhaps an incorrect appreciation, as noted later in this review, but it is an understandable conclusion. Millet’s art so comfortably fits the mould of the anecdotal illustration or idealised pastoral that our sensibilities are left cool and unengaged. One artist who does not command frequent monographic publications and exhibitions is Millet. All of these artists excite scholars and curators set on proving theories and overturn art historical assumptions.
It is Courbet and Manet who are revolutionary painters of modern life in the country and town respectively it is Géricault and Delacroix who are the adventurous titans developing sophisticated hybrid styles it is Moreau who is a mysterious hermetic artist in dialogue with an imagined Orient it is Degas who is the multifaceted technical chameleon it is Ingres who wrestles with reinventing history painting whilst finding new ways to paint distinguished portraits. His life and oeuvre – beyond a handful of famous works – are shadowy. This review is from the catalogue.įor the average viewer Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) is as unknown as he is famous. It includes works by artists influenced by Millet’s example, with special attention paid to his seminal influence on Van Gogh. Louis, 16 February-) situates Millet at the root of much of what became known as French Modernism. The current exhibition Jean-Fran çois Millet: Sowing the Seeds of Modernism (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 4 October 2019-12 January 2020 touring to Saint Louis Art Museum, St. He was hailed as a realist, a champion of rural France, ally of the peasant and aesthetic pioneer. One of the leading French painters of mid-19 th Century was Jean-François Millet (1814-1875).
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