Peasant Watering his cows on the bank of the Allier River, dusk c. 1868

Editor: So, this is Jean-François Millet's "Peasant Watering his Cows on the bank of the Allier River, dusk," from around 1868, made with charcoal and watercolor. It’s lovely, but the earthy tones give it this heavy, almost melancholic feeling. What stands out to you? Curator: It's precisely that earthy quality that I find compelling. Consider the materials themselves – charcoal and watercolor, easily sourced and relatively inexpensive. Millet is deliberately choosing media that reflect the everyday reality and lived experiences of the peasantry. He's not using oils to idealize some noble subject; he's representing labor with the very stuff of the earth. Editor: That makes sense. The choice of materials impacts the final look and feel. It seems almost… intentional, to ground the work in a particular context. How did the role of ‘genre-painting’ inform the work? Curator: Exactly. Millet elevated rural life to high art. Before, that would've been considered beneath the dignity of "serious" art. But, if you examine it closely, what we now call genre painting can be deeply intertwined with how labor was valued, or devalued, within burgeoning industrial economies of the 19th century. Was Millet just depicting the common life or critiquing the system that created it? How are those cattle symbols for commodification and consumption of the labor force? Editor: I never thought about it like that. Seeing those simple materials reflecting larger questions about society and class. Curator: Art is not created in a vacuum. Millet isn't just depicting rural life, he's processing it, and forcing his audience to contend with the hands that are working and what materials they create with those hands. Editor: I’ll never look at landscape quite the same way again. I wonder how labor has changed since then, and if art keeps the record of all this for everyone to experience. Curator: Indeed. Reflecting on materials offers a new perspective into culture.