Woman Emptying a Bucket 1834 - 1875

Jean-François Millet made this block print, “Woman Emptying a Bucket,” which can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Millet came of age in rural France, and witnessed first hand the harsh realities of peasant life. Here, Millet depicts a woman engaged in a simple, yet laborious chore, a scene reflective of his commitment to representing the lives of rural laborers with dignity and respect. She tilts a heavy bucket, likely filled with water, into a large pot, her form bent with the effort. The act of emptying a bucket becomes a powerful statement about the endless cycle of labor that defined the lives of women in rural societies. Millet challenged the dominant artistic trends of his time, moving away from idealized or romanticized portrayals of peasant life. He chose instead to focus on the ordinary, seeking to elevate the status of the working class. In doing so, Millet invites us to contemplate the social and economic structures that shape individual lives.