Critical Archive of the Visual and Related Arts
Jules Breton
French; 19th-century
Omaha, NE: Joslyn Art Museum
79%
The Weeders. 1860. Oil on canvas
This twilight scene takes place at almost the same time of day as Millais’ Autumn Leaves. Where that painting failed in being preoccupied with the beauty of young girls, this one succeeds. The girls here are not presented as beautiful objects; rather, they are representatives of the whole human species, struggling for humanity’s place in the universe. Although the picture is almost entirely middleground, it is splendid and shocking how a space the size of the entire solar system is opened up between the three astronomical objects — sun, moon, earth — and the crouching figure on the extreme right. Instead of working one particular field, these laborers are working the planet earth. The crescent moon and the sun make an exceptionally pleasing rhyming pair, as do the girl in profile and the moon. (WC, 2025)