Jules Breton ‘End of the working day’ (1886)

The Realist movement was a response to the Romantic movement in many ways. The Realists, namely the French Realists were creating their art in the times of a revolution. Ideas were changing in many aspects of society and are was no different. Realists wanted to capture the essence of they saw around them, the real  unadulterated look at what it was to be person living in that time. Hence, many of the Realists works were focused on they common man, rather than the nobility. 

When looking at this work by Jules Breton, the first feeling I get is one of calm serenity. While this picture depicting workers in a field can be discussed in possibly all our given themes for our assignment, I choose to discuss movement over the others.

The first aspect of movement I noted when looking at this piece is the movement created through the use of perspective. The converging lines that the crops create let your eye travel across the piece. This depth this work by Jules Breton gives a subtle sense of movement in the scene.

Another noteworthy point would be the movement happening in the subject. The three workers appear to be caught in motion, walking away from their work of the day. While the movement isn't anything dramatic or blatantly obvious, the movement depicted here is one of possibly fatigue and slowness. Personally, I think that this slow movement in this piece adds to the subject of the post. With this addition of the movement, we can further see the fatigue of the workers after a day of work; we can see possibly the slow pace of their day to day activities, we can see the realism that the artist is trying to show here.

As I said previously, the other themes are also valid for discussion in this piece and in particular I’d like to mention time. The play of light in this scene lends itself to the general mood of the piece very well. With the position of the sun we can see that the moment in time captured here is a late afternoon. Their day has ended and the way time is portrayed through the use of the sun adds to the overall mood of the piece. 

References: 

Images:[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_Fin_du_travail_(The_End_of_the_Working_Day)_-_Jules_Breton.jpg]

brooklymuseum.org-2013[http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/about_time/breton.php][Last accessed on 28th October 2013]