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Origin and history

Jean-François Millet's studio house, located at 27-29 Grande Rue in Barbizon (Seine-et-Marne), was the setting of the painter's life and work from 1849 until his death in 1875. This place became the heart of his artistic production, marked by major works such as The Gleaners (1857) or The Angelus (1859), symbols of the realism and glorification of the peasant world. Millet, the central figure of Barbizon's school, developed an innovative style, blending rural scenes and bright search for impressionism.

Acquired by the artist after his definitive installation in Barbizon, this house was also a meeting place with other painters like Charles Jacque. The workshop, classified as Historical Monument in 1947, preserves the intimate atmosphere where Millet made his most famous paintings, inspired by the laborious life of the countryside. After his death, the site was preserved before being transformed into a museum in 1922, perpetuating the memory of his illustrious occupant.

The building reflects Millet's stylistic evolution, moving from mythological scenes from his early days to the famous peasant landscapes and portraits. His stay in Barbizon coincided with a period of social crisis in France (1840-1850), where his works, such as Le Vanneur (1848), were seen as a tribute to rural workers. Today, the museum exhibits reproductions of its paintings and personal objects, providing insight into its daily life.

Barbizon, then a simple hamlet of Chailly-en-Bière, became a major artistic home under the influence of Millet and his peers. The house, located in the village, illustrates the close link between the artist and this territory, where he drew inspiration until his death. Its heritage continues through the collections of the Musée d'Orsay, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Musée Thomas-Henry in Cherbourg, which house its most important works.

Millet's workshop was also a place of transmission, occasionally welcoming his brother Jean-Baptiste Millet, also a painter. The posthumous recognition of his work, notably through retrospectives at the Grand Palais (1975) or the Musée d'Orsay (1998), devotes his pioneering role to modern art. The house, now open to the public, remains an authentic testimony of the life of an artist who revolutionized the representation of the rural world.

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