Millet’s Gleaners Is a Social Commentary

Jean-François Millet's The Gleaners (1857) is a seminal work of the Realist movement, noted for its unflinching yet dignified portrayal of the rural poor. It represented a critical turn in 19th-century art that brought the lowest ranks of rural society to the forefront of high art. Exhibited during a time of post-revolutionary tension (following the 1848 French Revolution), the painting was viewed with suspicion by the bourgeoisie and conservative elites. The three women represent the rural, poor—authorised to gather leftover wheat.

Critics of the time perceived the painting as a nod to revolutionary sentiment, with some interpreting the three figures as a form of rebellious commentary on the social inequality in post-1848, France.

The Gleaners, 1857, Jean-François Millet, Oil on Canvas, in: Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

A Mirror to Class Inequality: Millet juxtaposes the hunched, impoverished women in the foreground with the abundant harvest and carts full of haystacks and sheaves of grain in the distance. This stark split highlights social stratification and the marginalisation of the poor.

While it is now celebrated as a masterpiece, it was, initially perceived as a politically dangerous, almost socialist, depiction of rural poverty and class division. It was a source of intense social anxiety for the French elite, and a subtle critique of class division.

Foreground vs. Background Contrast: Three women, representing the lowest social rank, are bent double in the shadowy foreground to collect single stalks of wheat. This "gleaning" was a charitable right for the poor. In the sun-drenched background, massive haystacks and wagons represent the abundance of the wealthy landowners. A distant figure on horseback—a steward or foreman—monitors the fields. His presence reinforces the hierarchy, emphasising the surveillance and segregation of the working class.

The women’s bent backs create a repetitive "u" shape that mirrors the backbreaking, cyclical nature of their task. Their placement below the horizon line physically "earths" them, suggesting they are an inseparable, almost animalistic part of the landscape. By obscuring the women's faces, Millet transformed them into universal symbols of human endurance and the "meek who shall inherit the earth".

Traditionally, large-scale canvases were reserved for religious or mythological "grand" subjects. By granting these impoverished women such a monumental scale, Millet elevated their struggle to the level of epic history, which was seen as a radical political statement.

Social and Political Controversy: When debuted at the 1857 Salon, the painting was viewed with deep suspicion by the bourgeoisie. Following the French Revolution of 1848, the upper classes feared that glorifying the peasantry would incite another uprising.

It profoundly influenced Vincent van Gogh, who deeply admired Millet's empathy for the working class. It served as the central inspiration for Agnès Varda's 2000 documentary, The Gleaners and I, which connects 19th-century field gleaning to modern-day scavenging and waste.

The original oil on canvas resides at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

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