Work, Pray, Great, Development (France Pavilion A)

97 X 130 cm     ac     2010/5/9

The exhibition of Jean-Francois Millet’s art at the 1867 World Expo in Paris brought surprise and admiration from the spectators. Eight masterpieces were shown by Millet, including The Gleaners and Angelus. Taking farmers as  the subject, Millet depicted their hardworking everyday life and praised this kind of simple, authentic harmonious existence with nature. Already regarded as the “Painter of Farmers,” Millet was also extolled as a “Painter of Humanism” by Tolstoy.

For this 2010 Shanghai Expo, the French Pavilion has brought in six masterpieces from their museums and Millet’s Angelus is among them. Dr. Chen combines another of Millet’s masterpieces The Gleaners with the Angelus, using the pointillist style to portray a serene, yet joyous evening light as the farmers labor and pray sincerely on the field. Yet upon the horizon, a silhouette of “The Gate of the East” and the “Orient Pearl of TV Tower” along with some super skyscrapers of Shanghai arise.

This combination of the modern skyline with the pastoral setting expresses how the East and the West are now combining and cooperating together with industrial technology as well as sincere hard work, to ensure the success, progress and prosperity of our Global Village.