Vincent van Gogh
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Vincent van Gogh had great admiration for the work of the French artist Jean-François Millet. Like Millet, he wanted to paint peasant life. Van Gogh ultimately gave up this ambition and found his own direction, but he never completely lost sight of Millet. Millet was known as the great French painter of rural life. Vincent recognized himself in Millet's life story: a simple man, who grew up in a peasant family and was proud of his roots. This strengthened Vincent's resolve to paint peasant life, just like Millet. Millet made peasants the focus of his works and painted them respectfully, which was new for the time.
Vincent studied Millet’s artworks closely. He drew countless studies of peasants working the land, and even made exact copies of Millet’s work. This was how Van Gogh practiced and tried to improve as an artist. Once Vincent encountered Millet’s work, he became immediately fascinated with his Sower. He had copied the work of Millet many times before, but he aspired to paint his own, personal version. In the autumn of 1888, Vincent painted a sower, bringing together all that he had learned up until then: bright color contrasts of yellow and purple; diagonal lines crossing the image; and large, flat areas of color inspired by Japanese prints. This was Van Gogh’s own, modern Sower.
We present today's painting thanks to the Van Gogh Museum where until 12 January 2020 you can visit the exhibition, Jean-François Millet: Sowing the Seeds of Modern Art. This is the first exhibition to explore how Millet’s work inspired the art of numerous well-known artists, such as Vincent van Gogh, Camille Pissarro, Georges Seurat, Claude Monet, Giovanni Segantini, Winslow Homer, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Edvard Munch, Kazimir Malevich, and Salvador Dalí.
P.S. Beautiful, isn't it? And here's a story of Vincent van Gogh and his lovers.