Cliffs at Gruchy

On 17 April 1871, with Paris under the Commune, about 290 artists met at the Louvre and elected a committee of 47 to run the city's museums and exhibitions. Millet's name was on it, although he had never stood, and he refused the seat. He was far from Paris. In 1870 he had taken his family to Cherbourg ahead of the Prussian invasion, and he stayed in Normandy until late in 1871, going out to Gruchy, the hamlet on the cliffs where he grew up. This canvas shows the place where the path from Gruchy ends at the cliff top, a heap of grey rock jutting out above the Channel. Brown heather and loose stones fill the foreground, and a sheep grazes at the left. The coast there is known for gales. In this picture the sea lies flat and pale out to the horizon, gulls hang over the rocks, and a small boat sits on the water far below.