The Gleaners and A Burial at Ornans

The Gleaners by Jean-Francois Millet and A Burial at Ornans by Gustave Courbet are two examples of realism and early Avant-Grade. Both these painting were offensive to the bourgeoisie, and were looked down upon by many people. They both give emotion and a realism that make people uncomfortable.

First of all, the painting is of the poor people of the area. It was not common and was not looked favorably upon to make poor people as the main focus of art, especially painting. Their faces are turned away from the viewer, representing the masses of the poverty stricken people. This painting shows the poverty of the three women, having their face covered, they represents all the people who are poor. It shows them gleaning, picking the small amount of stalk left to make bread. Women who did this were out bending over for hours every day collecting a small amount of stalks. But being at the poverty level they had no choice. This reminds people of how much poverty there is, and brings light to the situation. People didn’t like the realism of this picture, the real portrayal of people in poverty. You can see how far they are from the town or village, and how little they have been able to find for all their work. I think it probably made majority of people feel uncomfortable. Another part of this painting is the three women. They are taking up the majority of the frame.  Which was not acceptable, usually peasants, if they were in a painting at all, they fill a very small portion. Millet dedicated this painting to the poor people of the time, which really was not typical of the time. It was strongly looked down upon.

A Burial at Ornans is also an example of realism and early Avant-Grade. People looked down on this painting as well. It is a life-sized scale of a burial. This scene is not idealized, or made “less sad”. It is a very real painting of a funeral, has a sadness, coldness, and shock of a real funeral. People disliked the raw emotion this painting gives. People really just disliked the truth, and realism of this piece. They said the men were ugly and disgusting. Another thing people did not like about this painting was the white dog. It stands out a lot in the painting, and it was offensive to many people. And considing that the center of the painting, is a huge hole, the next thing you really look at is the dog.

Overall, the pattern I noticed with these two paintings is that people disliked them because they are so realistic. They really shed light on truths that are hard for people to face. Poverty and death, and two hard things for people to face, and when someone is painting poverty and death in such a realistic manner, people are going to dislike it. And probably feel uncomfortable around it.