About Jules Breton art

Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton was one of the first artists to focus on the countryside and the people who lived there. He did this to show the beauty and dignity of country life.  Even though his favorite subjects—gleaners, harvesters, and communicators—were common in realistic paintings and illustrations of genre types during this time, Breton's pictures of them are done in a style that is usually held for classical figures.  In his autobiography Un Peintre Paysan, published in 1896, Jules Breton wrote about the time when he started to develop his mature style. He said, "I was no longer thinking of anything but the grand style.  I was thinking if the rustic style could point me in the right direction."  This "grand style," which the artist aimed for and used in his iconic pictures of peasants, grew out of the academic tradition and was mixed with realist ideas to make something new.

Breton's works seem both specific and general, modern and timeless because they have realistic details and a poetic sense.  One critic said it best: "He is an idealist, but he is an idealist who depends on reality the most."  Some critics thought that Breton's paintings only appealed to bourgeois tastes and official recognition because of this idealized view of rural life. However, more recent research has shown that his masterful combination of real and ideal is a great example of the complexity of nineteenth-century Realism.