Tweed Museum of Art : Power of Art : Vincent Van Gogh

Rothko

(American, 1903–1970)

This activity is made possible in part by a grant from WNET/PBS 13, New York, through PBS 8/WDSE, Duluth.

One of Van Gogh’s early heroes in art was Jean-Francois Millet, whose paintings and prints often depicted peasants and agricultural laborers in rural France. Millet produced images of common people doing common tasks: farming, knitting, preparing food, caring for children. In them, he made the figures appear monumental, and therefore presented common people as important members of society, along with nobles, the clergy, and wealthy landowners.

Millet looked back at Michelangelo’s art for inspiration, but he was forward-thinking and inventive in his simplification of figures, and in his reduction of landscape spaces to large areas of color and tone. A member of a loose knit group of painters known as the Barbizon artists, Millet actually moved to the village of Barbizon. Along with Rousseau, Jacque, and Daubigny, Millet painted directly from nature,paving the way for Impressionism, arguably the most popular art style ever.

Van Gogh created his own versions of several Millet subjects, including The Diggers and The Sower, and was indebted to the example Millet’s rough-hewn figures, and the idea of the common laborer as a worthy subject for art.

Carravaggio

(Italian, 1571–1610)

Bernini

(Italian, 1598–1680)

Rembrandt

(Dutch, 1606–1669)

Jacques-Louis David

(French, 1748–1825)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

(British, 1775–1851)*

Van Gogh

(Dutch, 1853–1890)

Picasso

(Spanish, 1881–1973)

Rothko

(American, 1903–1970)


Carravaggio (Italian, 1571–1610) Bernini (Italian, 1598–1680) Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669) Jacques-Louis David (French, 1748–1825) Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775–1851)* Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890) Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) Rothko (American, 1903–1970) This activity is made possible in part by a grant from WNET/PBS 13, New York, through PBS 8/WDSE, Duluth. One of Van Gogh’s early heroes in art was Jean-Francois Millet, whose paintings and prints often depicted peasants and agricultural laborers in rural France. Millet produced images of common people doing common tasks: farming, knitting, preparing food, caring for children. In them, he made the figures appear monumental, and therefore presented common people as important members of society, along with nobles, the clergy, and wealthy landowners. Millet looked back at Michelangelo’s art for inspiration, but he was forward-thinking and inventive in his simplification of figures, and in his reduction of landscape spaces to large areas of color and tone. A member of a loose knit group of painters known as the Barbizon artists, Millet actually moved to the village of Barbizon. Along with Rousseau, Jacque, and Daubigny, Millet painted directly from nature,paving the way for Impressionism, arguably the most popular art style ever. Van Gogh created his own versions of several Millet subjects, including The Diggers and The Sower, and was indebted to the example Millet’s rough-hewn figures, and the idea of the common laborer as a worthy subject for art.