Title: "Evening Bell", "Evening Prayer"
Artist: Jean-François Miller
Created in: 1857-1859 (aged 42)
Genre : Realism
Period : Post-Renaissance
Size: 66×55.5cm
Material: Canvas oil on canvas
Place of collection : Musée d'Orsay
Subject Matter : Genre Painting
Background :
Jean-Francois Millet (1814-1875) was a representative painter of French realism and a painter of the Barbizon School.
The Barbizon School is a group of painters active in the town of Barbizon near Fontainebleau and is an artistic group.
In 1894, due to cholera in Paris, Miller took his wife and children to settle in the French countryside of Barbizon, and the painting style gradually changed to an idyllic style.
The art world of the 19th century had two forces competing, one was the traditional force and the other was the new force, and the painter Miller was the representative of the new force.
Works by:
Jean François Miller, "The Evening Clock"
The couple in the "Evening Bell" painting is like sculptures, after ploughing in the evening, bowing their heads in prayer as the bell rings. Late autumn dusk, golden sky, distant churches, soaring birds, young peasant couples, artists depict the simplicity and silence of the countryside through static treatment, which together constitute a solemn religious atmosphere.
A peasant woman bowing her head in prayer
The peasant woman's dress and the color of the earth are very harmonious, the sleeves of the forearms show a brighter dark red, the red represents life, alluding to the link between man and the earth, and the light and shade of the dress color also reflect the vagaries of the sunset light. She lowered her head deeply, folded her hands with ten fingers crossed on her chest, and her heart was full of reverence for nature and longing for a good year, showing a pious gesture.
Bowed man
The artist deliberately conceals the appearance of the hero in the painting and omits the details of the shaping, and it is this general technique that creates the classic peasant image in art history, and he can see the shadow of all the low-level peasants on his body, revealing eternal peace and tranquility.
The man holds a hat in his hand
The man bowed his head, clutched his hat in his hand, dug the iron fork of the potato obliquely inserted in the field, and some potatoes were scattered at his feet, which showed that after the man's farm work was interrupted by the church bell, he naturally stopped all movements. The harsh living conditions, the heavy labor, the crude agricultural tools did not crush them, and their souls remained pure and full of hope, which was the pursuit of a free and happy life.
An iron fork inserted obliquely in the soil
The bell tower in the distance
The pointed bell tower stands in the distance, looming, seemingly unimportant, but it is the finishing touch of the whole painting, and the bell rings, and there is a series of actions of people praying behind.
Miller, Manwith aHoe, oil on canvas, 81.9×100.3cm, 1862, Paul Getty Museum
Miller, Woman with a Rake, oil on canvas, 39.7×34.3cm, 1856-1857, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Van Gogh, The Evening Bell, Lin Miller, Pencil, 46.8×61.9cm, 1880
Salvador Dalí's Twilight-inspired work "The Evening Clock"
Trivia:
1. Fontainebleau means "beautiful spring water", the historic Fontainebleau Palace, one of the world's top business schools - INSEAD, ESIGETEL Engineering University are located here.
2, Miller in paris in the early years by painting Rococo style paintings to make a living, can not imagine!
3, the couple's foot potato basket is a small coffin, buried their child who died shortly after their birth, Dalí's naked eyes found the picture strange and insisted that the museum do X-ray examination to confirm his point of view.