Many of Millet's contemporaries painted simple folk and simple things. None possessed the dignity and sincerity with which he approaches a subject such as this. These peasants were his own people. In his youth he had plowed the land by their side. His memory retained their attitudes and gestures. He pictured them, as he did here, without sentimentality or false idealism.

The deep sincerity and transparent honesty which breathe in "The Angelus" have attracted to it a constant and deserved popularity. People who work with their hands have not often been well treated by painters. at times they are ridiculed; frequently they are pictured in forced gayety, away from their work. To Millet must go the credit of painting gthe laborer with the feeling that best fits the subject: dignity.

Back to Famous Paintings in Paris, about Paris, and my Tips

Need accommodation in Paris? Visit my apartment in front of the Louvre: