511
Autumn Leaves 1856
Sir John Everett Millais 1825-96
Oil on canvas
Many people agree that this is Millais' most evocative painting, but what it evokes is far from clear. The girls' self-contained beauty and priestess-like actions contrast with their common garden task. These mixed messages defy anyone trying to assign an easy meaning.
The skyline is that seen from Millais' own back garden in Perthshire, Scotland. The twilight was lauded by the great critic John Ruskin as the greatest ever painted. It is typical of Millais' portrayal of Scotland as an in-between country: neither day nor night, neither summer nor winter. The girls, who are neither rich nor poor, fit perfectly into this vision of Scotland as a limbo land, where poetic dreams can be explored.
511
Autumn Leaves 1856
Sir John Everett Millais 1825-96
Oil on canvas
Many people agree that this is Millais' most evocative painting, but what it evokes is far from clear. The girls' self-contained beauty and priestess-like actions contrast with their common garden task. These mixed messages defy anyone trying to assign an easy meaning.
The skyline is that seen from Millais' own back garden in Perthshire, Scotland. The twilight was lauded by the great critic John Ruskin as the greatest ever painted. It is typical of Millais' portrayal of Scotland as an in-between country: neither day nor night, neither summer nor winter. The girls, who are neither rich nor poor, fit perfectly into this vision of Scotland as a limbo land, where poetic dreams can be explored.