Focus on The Winnower (Millet) and analyze the Reception.
Writer Théophile Gautier in his work about the Salon de 1848 described this painting thus: “It is impossible to see anything rougher, more fierce, more bristling, more uncultivated; well! this mortar, this thick mess to retain the brush, is of excellent locality, of a fine and warm tone when one steps back three paces. This winnower who raises his van with his ragged knee, and raises into the air, in the middle of a column of golden dust, the grain of his basket, arches his back in the most masterly manner." He also adds that "M. Millet's painting has everything it takes to exasperate the bourgeois with hairless chins", a remark which explains the interest that the Republicans found in this work.
This painting, presented at the Salon of 1848, stood out among the 5000 other works exhibited that year, and was bought for 500 francs by Alexandre-Ledru-Rollin, Minister of the Provisional Government.
Its importance is all the greater as it notably inspired Gustave Courbet for his painting The Stone Breakers, made in 1849, which was destroyed during the bombardment of Dresden in 1945.
Dresden The Stone Breakers Théophile Gautier Gustave Courbet winnower