The Gleaners(Millet, 1849)
In this painting, we see the three female gleaners working hard in the field. Millet used simple descriptions to depict their life. Millet gave them simple clothes, and the Earth tone colors of their clothes implied that they were part of the Earth, of the soil and ground that they work in. In contrast, the whole background of the picture was very pretty: the golden field, the green trees and the heap of yellow of harvest. He used the opposite things to show that the life of the gleaners were not pretty. There were only three people working there, which gives us a sense of the time: nothing exaggerated, but just life as common people lived it. Though they bowed their heads to the ground as if being subjected to something higher and showing their low class status, somehow they have a rhythm to their movements. That movement made them felt important, because as the artist believed, these gleaners who provided food for the society were important people. (Potash, Romanticism and Realism lecture notes)
Additionally, this painting was famous for featuring in a sympathetic way what were then the lowest ranks of rural society. Though at that time, this was poorly received by the upper classes. Still, Millet was successful in trying to paint life as it really was and how the lower class lived it.
Additionally, this painting was famous for featuring in a sympathetic way what were then the lowest ranks of rural society. Though at that time, this was poorly received by the upper classes. Still, Millet was successful in trying to paint life as it really was and how the lower class lived it.
Wounded soldier (Dix, 1916)
This painting was painted by Dix in 1916 during World War One. Dix painted it after he was sent to Western Front in 1914 and fought for Germany. So as an eyewitness of the bloody part of the First World War, he recorded a lot of the truths of it: " these soldiers were actually buried alive; this is what dying from poison gas was like; this is what a dead horse looks like; these were the expressions on the faces of the wounded." (Collection Search, Otto Dix)
In this painting, we can see horrific things: Blood is all over the soldier's body; the soldier's right hand is clutching his heart to reveal the pain and suffering. Then we can see his face, very distorted and full of fear. Not only was his face full of anguish, but also his whole body was twisted to show the pain he was experiencing. The painting was in black and white, which gives us a feeling of paleness and perhaps to soften the cruelty of war. Had it been done in color to show the bloodshed, it may be too much for the observer to handle. We could easily see that Dix was trying to shout out to the people: "Trust me. This is what really happened. I was there "( Collection Search, Otto Dix)This painting showed us that how terrible were the lives of soldiers who fought in WWI. Not only did they suffer from malnutrition and lack of sleep, they also experienced hell in the trenches. There were constant close-up fighting, guns, and chemical warfare; it seemed from the hollow face of the soldier and the skeletal of his hands that he was suffering from some sort of chemical, perhaps toxic gas used during the war. That type of pain and anguish in the slow dying was the worst kind because life was slowly taken away from him. And actually, soldiers didn't really want to go to the war. But why they went and fought? Maybe it was because of the propaganda. There were a lot of propagandas during that time. They said if you didn’t go to the war, you were not a true man. Many people didn’t want to be a coward. That was the reason why they attended the war. This painting truly evoke fear as it depicted the horrors of war and the things that soldiers experienced during WWI.
The Stone Breaker(Seurat, 1884)
This painting was painted by Georges Seurat (Georges Seurat the Complete Works, Georges Seurat Biography) in 1884. Georges Seurat (1859-1891) was born in into a very rich family. Though he was not successful at the beginning of his career, later on, his painting “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” (Georges Seurat the Complete Works, Georges Seurat Biography) became famous. Georges painted several paintings called “The Stone Breaker.” So what are the similarities?
So let's talk about this painting first. We can easily see that this is an oil painting. Unlike a lot of paintings, we could not see the people's faces clearly, not even their hands or clothes. This blurry painting gives us a feeling of mystery and uncertainty. Though it is really unclear, we could still see what they are doing. It has a very clear rough sketch that could let us know that it is about two workers. Another reason is that, the painting is not to show us every detail of the people or the background, but wants us to know its soul, the life of the people was hard. All of Georges' paintings of the stone breaker are like this: Unclear, handmade, and painted by oil.
This painting depicted two stone breakers' life. They were working hard there and we cannot even see them clearly. From this point, we can see that how life is for the workers. They work hard, but nobody even notice them. The hard life can be very embodied by this painting.
At that time, stone breaking is one of the hardest manual labors that only poor people would do. The lower classmen got a very low salary and worked really hard. Courbet also had a painting called the stone breaker. He depicted the hard lives of the stone breakers. He wanted to depict the nature, he drew this. "The most important element is not mere truthfulness inrepresenting nature, but the distinctive ways in which he transformed what he saw."(Old and Sold, Courbet - The Stone Breakers) He wanted to show people what he really saw and his painting showed us the hard life of the stone breakers too.
Work Cited
1. The gleaners, Jean-Francois Millet ，http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gleaners
2. Jean-Francois Millet, Wikipedia , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Francois_Millet
4. Romanticism and Realism lecture notes, Brett Potash
5. Romanticism and Realism lecture notes, Brett Potash
6. Otto Dix, Wounded Soldier, http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/dix.php
10. Georges Seurat the Complete Works, Georges Seurat Biography, http://www.georgesseurat.org/biography.html
11. Georges Seurat the Complete Works, Georges Seurat Biography, http://www.georgesseurat.org/biography.html
12. Old and Sold, Courbet - The Stone Breakers, http://www.oldandsold.com/painters/paintings-83.shtml
