3-002-553 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Potato Harvest, 1855. After moving from Paris to the village of Barbizon on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest in 1851, Millet devoted himself to portraying the lives of his neighbors. Some critics interpreted his paintings of working farmers as a critique of the injustices inherent in the social conditions of his time. Others have seen his work as a representation of man's harmonious union with nature.