X-raying vintage paintings is so freaking cool. It almost feels wrong like we are uncovering secrets the artist never intended us to see. But the curiosity and pursuit of knowledge far outweighs that feeling for me. We finally get to know the artists unfiltered and uncensored intent hidden by layers of paint.
Your video came across my March 12 feed today my 74 birthday. This was a beautiful story. Having lost my daughter to leukemia when she was only seven. I am profoundly moved by this painting. Thank You I grew up watching Andy every week and somehow this gives me comfort. A mother never truly recovers. Sincerely, Meredith’s Mother
The reveal of the x-ray absolutely floored me. I had the same interpretation at the start, purely from the farmers expressions and pose, and the overall tone of the picture. Of course, this interpretation began to wade as you went into the history of the angelus, and i kinda forgot about it until the Dali segment. It's just wild to me just how much art can really communicate through its aesthetics alone, being able to still express the underlying sentiment through sheer *atmosphere* ...
I had the exact same thought when he first showed the painting. The way art communicates things to us that can't be seen by human eyes, but felt by the soul is astounding.
I didn't get any sense of what the painting was "really about" but I did get a sense that the picture of more of mourning than of praying for prosperity.
The fact that several people all came to this conclusion AND *_ONLY_* the box was different further proves that it was a burial. Since only the box was different all of the poses, shading, etc likely remained constant, so if those poses and other subconscious ques lead you to believe that it is about a burial, then it lines up perfectly. It's kind of like a double blind study, you don't "know" if your getting the real medicine, so if you do suddenly improve dramatically it's evidence that the medicine works. (of course, this analogy isn't perfect, since there really isn't a way to placebo yourself into finding the true original meaning of a painting)
@@robonator2945 i can definitely see it, would as a principle refute there ever being a 'true original meaning' to any piece of art, but i still really like the connection to double-blind studies. It definitely provides some key insights into the specifics of how it works as you yourself mentioned.
Plus the basket doesn't look like potato baskets from that era it does in fact look like a baby basket from then and even by modern standards. Perhaps he left a hint to it's true meaning by using the basket as a clue. If you do an image search of potato baskets from that era they are mostly square with handles on the side made out of metal or woven. Baby baskets back then looked like the one in the painting. Even today you see baby baskets like that.
@@Dysiode I intially thought the potatoes was a child, and maybe the outline of the coffin tricks your brain, but I swear I can see the cracks of the paint forming the rectangle of the coffin.
I think we have to take in mind that we are advanced in references and content. Looking at Dali appearances on tv one can't see anything special until you realise that we are looking we modern eyes a man that liked to make an spectacle of his persona on the much contrive media of the time. So he catched the way you do to now.
There’s a similarly haunting overpainting found with Breugel’s ‘Massacre of The Innocents’. The artist depicted the biblical story of Herod’s order to kill all infants in the area of Bethlehem, but rather than the ancient Middle-East he set the scene in his own contemporary Netherlands. However a few decades after Bruegel’s death the Holy Roman Emperor ordered the scene overpainted to eliminate the subject of dead and dying children. They were replaced with livestock and produce. At a glance the painting looks like a typical Bruegel, if not quite a jolly scene then one of no worse than plunder and mischief. But as you look closer the more disturbing it becomes. A woman wails in horror because a soldier is stabbing the jug she clutches; another stands aghast over some meats and cheese lying in the snow; a couple offer their daughter to soldiers instead of a large bird; empty bundles of rags are torn from women’s arms. The overpainting gives a surreal horror to the painting that is arguably more haunting and upsetting than the direct depiction of the massacre.
Thank you for such an interesting and informative art history comment! I feel as of I've practically seen it already from your well written narrative. But now I do hope that I can manage to see this intriguing piece of art online.
I just looked it up and in the very bottom left corner, you can see a baby's head nestled beneath its mother as she flees partially out of frame. They missed one. At a cursory glance, it actually just seemed like a buxom woman's breast, but the rest of the piece lacks any sensuality, so when zooming in drastically, it became a very obvious baby's head.
Yeah, at first glance I was sure there was a somber feeling in the painting. My interpretation was that they were nearly starving peasants, praying that this meager harvest would be enough to get them through the winter.
When I saw it I instantly thought the basket was for a child and noticed it didn’t have one in it. Didn’t notice the potatoes so I thought maybe it was parents burying their child. Wild that that’s what it was.
This painting and Salvador Dali's recognition of mournfulness rather than hopeful prayer is the heart of truly recognizing great masterpieces. It takes a special gift to see the painter's actual meaning and emotions expressed in the art. For it is there for all to see. Winston Churchill was an avid painter. A good one. He painted many paintings of a pond he put in his backyard. A great impressionist painter Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint Winston Churchill's portrait. He studied Churchill and upon looking at his pond paintings, he saw them as dark and sad. Churchill of course denied sadness as a motivation when painting the pond. With encouragement from Sutherland, they both explored the paintings of the pond and together they discovered Churchill had built the pond just after his baby daughter Marigold was born. She passed away at the age of 3 of a throat infection. Churchill had connected the pond he made for Marigold with her, and of her loss. So he would think of her while painting the pond and his sorrow over her loss came out in the paintings. Art moves us because it speaks. It often lays bare the artist making the art whether the artist knows it or not. True story briefly touched on in the series, "The Crown". Malay's "Angeles" was changed by him perhaps to make it a more sellable painting, but he could not hide the sadness expressed by him. Not at least from Salvador Dali.
@Brent Testerman Isn't art in all its expressions from all kinds of people such a wonderful study of humanity? I find it truly beautiful, fascinating and an amazing insite to feelings, emotions and ways of thinking. Universal across many cultures. How does one paint sadness, joy, anger, love? What we see is what we paint. How are feelings placed in the brush strokes? And yet they are there. Its incredible.
The artist in this topjc is Corbet and not what ever na e they used in the posting. The school reflected in Courbet`s paintings is Realism. This artistic philosophy is not concerened with say a photographic representation. Rather it was Corbet's intention to show life as it was for European peasants. This movement was founded by Corbet who believed that modern artist stopped being on the cutting edge but had all become self-serving. This was shocking to the structured art machinery in the Salon establishment. The peasant class did not commissioning portraits. Corbet believed paitnting life as it existed in fact was more worthy than something that matches the couch. When i look at this painting i think about periods of failed crops and hunger. The pair have stopped working for the call of the bells and praying for a good crop. To a member of the aristocratic class Corbet's paintings pulled back the screen to show life that was unknowable and was harshly rejected because in recognizing the importance of the subject and a flash of responsability? Of corse! But can it match the couch? What I love is we are all right.
true story- i’m a teen and my parents have a copy of this painting in our house. i seriously always thought the same thing. my parents always said i was being “dramatic” and it’s not that. now ima go prove that i was right. thanks austin.
It's interesting, and speaks to Millet's talent - I honestly hadn't seen that painting before (the only one I recall ever seeing before was "The Sower"), but parents burying an infant was precisely what I first thought it was, until the close-up of it. Imagine my surprised-yet-not-surprised reaction when you revealed that's exactly what it originally was...
Same, I assumed the basket contained a stillborn baby based on the posture of the man and woman alone. The impression was so strong that when the close-up revealed the basket was full of potatoes, the contents of wheelbarrow behind them suddenly started looking like the body of a child wrapped in a makeshift shroud. I’m genuinely surprised many people apparently thought the couple was just praying over potatoes when just a brief glimpse of them had my brain looking everywhere for the deceased child their poses told me was there.
Same here - I thought an infant was in the basket. Something about their pose looked sorrowful rather than prayerful. Pretty amazing of Millet to capture the mood.
@@boston_octopus It really is, it’s rare to find a painting so evocative, even among masters. Imagine being able to tell at a glance exactly what the Mona Lisa was feeling.
I always wonder where your process on a video like this starts. Were you aware of the painting, in general, but not the history? Were you casually watching Andy Griffith? Was someone talking about changes in set dressing and you went looking for examples? Etc, etc. Your videos seem so random, but they always have this strangely valuable through line that seem impossible to plan. Every video appears to be a magically profound accident.
Mark Twain wrote an interesting short story called "Is He Living Or Is He Dead?" which features Millet and the Angelus. It is about four poor artists who are roommates. They're down to their last scraps, lamenting the fact that an artist never seems to make it big until after he's dead. One of them comes up with the idea of how to get that type of money now. The idea is that one of them has to die. Millet is the one selected, however he doesn't actually die. The plan is for him to pile up stock while the other three go out and sell it, dropping hints that his health is poor. When the time is right, he will "die" but really he will change his identity and disappear. And so they put this plan into action. I forget how much The Angelus sells for in the story, but the secondary narrator (one of the artists who tells the story to the first narrator) says that Millet would have sold it for a pork chop. Quite a good story.
I swear on my life I had the exact same thought when you first showed the painting. That it was a couple mourning their child. That's so chilling. This is an amazing video.
Is it weird to say that that was my first impression of it too? With no context of the Angelus and the way the basket of potatoes made me think of a cradle, my mind went to parents who lost a child. The overall atmosphere is grim, and solemn enough that it just felt like a more accurate description of the painting's story.
The painting is really uncanny. Not just the fact that they’re hunched over, eyes shut, hats removed, praying over a basket of potatoes, but the way their dark figures are juxtaposed against the bright sky is so dramatic it seems almost out of place. The use of light gives me Caravaggio vibes because it’s so just so stark. Honestly I’m not surprised that Dalí was the one to surmise that they were mourning someone. Truly a brilliant piece. Doesn’t fail to give me goosebumps whenever I look at it.
“The Education of Ernest T Bass” is a really good episode of The Andy Griffith Show. “Man in a Hurry” is the very best. Interesting choose to use the show as a jumping off point to talking about 19th century French art. Very well done!
One of the best. Helen Crump is the ultimate stern/psycho-sexual schoolmarm in it. Ernest T. clues into something that Andy’s dark look by the fireplace reveals. “A lot of us like her”? Is Helen an adventuress? Is Ernest T. a swinger? Where’s Leonard Blush when you need him? Oh yeah that’s right. Blush’s voice is that of Howard Morris as well,
Now I have to watch this episode. I watched this series everyone and then, but I don't think I've seen the dramatic episodes! Thanks for telling us that!
That was my first thought seeing this painting too. Seemed like parents in mourning. Not because I'm a great art expert, but rather a good observer of people. Of course it takes a great artist to be able to relay those feelings on canvas.
When you first showed the painting at around 3:55, my first thought was, “How sad - it looks like a funeral. They must be burying a lost child.” I’m not surprised at all that Dali got the same sense from the image.
Was my thought, too. I expected the narrator to zoom in on the basket to reveal a deceased infant about to be buried. The body language of this couple is way too mournful for it to be about "c'mon taters!" However, if they just discovered that their crop was infected with phytophthora infestans, they would have been shattered. The failure of potato crops in Europe and Ireland was a terrible economic tragedy in the late 19th century. Widespread starvation, millions died as a result of just this one plant getting a blight.
RUclips is the most amazing place. I can't imagine how in the world you came to devote a seven-and-a-half minute video to a background painting on The Andy Griffith Show's set that never receives a single mention during any episode, but I'm glad that you did.
It's interesting that when The painting got the close up. The coffin/ potato basket was hidden by his head. Also, it's odd that the potato basket looks sort of like a bassinet
My aunt had a print of this painting in her living room when I was a kid. I always found it creepy and depressing. Never knew the story behind it. Wow. Thanks for this video 👍
Beautiful video, Austin. I think for me, even if it never made it into the final version, the image of the coffin adds a lot to the painting. It becomes a painting about the trials and hardships of a rural farm life. There are so many forgotten stories of people who, historically, never had the means to pass on their histories by any means but orally. Losing a child is a devastation, and these people-no matter the heartbreak they must feel-must still keep going on, because they don’t have the luxury to stop and grieve. So many regrets and traumas never fully moved through, because people couldn’t afford to dwell on them. I dunno if any of this makes sense. Maybe I’m just being a pretentious art interpreter right now. But I think it’s tragic.
Art interpretation is only pretentious if you're pretending. If this was your sincere interpretation, it's as valid as any!! Art doesn't belong to the elite, it belongs to the whole of humanity, and noone has the final say.
It is sunset, after a hard day's labour. Now they have the time to bury their child. They cannot afford that distant churchyard. All they have is their grief.
These children also lost to history. The parents grieve and the children’s lives are cut short, forgotten, simply because they didn’t live long enough for anyone else to know them.
My late uncle, dad's brother had the same contemptious attitude toward farmers despite his Russian line being farmers. To make the land produce I think is pretty fantastic. Growing things to sustain yourself and others with food is pretty awesome.
Did a quick search on this btw because I found it so interesting, Apparently this is just an urban legend or creepy pasta about the painting. The quote of Salvador Dali about the painting being about a coffin was just his artistic interpretation rather than him theorizing about what the real meaning was. There's no images or proof of any X-Rays being made by the Louvre and finding any coffins beneath layers of paint. All I found was a wordpress document about it, but I can't find any evidence beyond a blog to say that this legend is true.
It may be not urban legend. I also tried to track down the image and found a page from the book "The Tragic Myth of Millet’s Angelus" by Dali which shows a trapezoidal shape under the couple's feet. RUclips won't allow me to post link, but just try "X-ray The Angelus" in Google Image and you'll find it. There are also academic papers discussing Dali's idea, meaning there are critics who believe the idea is not without merit, but apparently the closest to the original X-ray is from Dali's book and even that doesn't show much beyond a geometrical mass (totally unlike what we see in the video), so clearly it's not conclusive at all.
I definitely got the same melancholic feel from the painting when I first saw it. I actually thought that maybe the basket was symbolic of a lost baby in some way, especially since it was on the ground between the parents. The x-ray at the end shocked me: not just because it was true, but also the way his raw sorrow couldn't be buried. I think that's the mark of a true artist.
Bro I love this as a deep dive into random stuff in the background of a show! Any one frame of any TV show or movie could have a thousand words written about it
This is pretty sad, the painter of this had deep hidden feelings and probably witnessed what he saw as a child but couldn't bring himself to show everyone else and kept it to himself never realizing that technology one day might reveal his sadness.
For those who want to learn more about the artist: Name: "Jean-François Millet" Painting: "Angelus" I'm posting this, because finding his name was difficult. I kept spelling it "Malay." This is further compounded when you realize there's a paint namebrand when you search "Angelus painting." In a way, I feel bad that Millet was so badly impacted by critics. He had a vision that he wanted to tell others, something real, but I imagine his own worry of what society would think literally caused him to alter his own art. Personally, I think that's an ultimate sin.
I think sin is going a bit too far, we have to remember these people want to eat. No one wants to be a sellout, and we should encourage individuality, but if it's sellout or starve, we should give them some empathy.
@@kostis2849 I get where you‘re coming from but Austin also did a great job in telling this story and since this comment is under his video and the other dude is dead, i would say it‘s ok.
Salvador Daliis he the guy who painted twisted reality images like melted mantle clock faces and such? If he was the same artist, I have 2 reasons to like what he was responsible for.
@@kostis2849 Austin made a well constructed video and brought something to my attention that I likely never would have discovered otherwise, as I'm not an art history person in general. With that in mind, I feel pretty comfortable in saying that he made a good video. None of that means I'm burying Dali. The Catholic church did that.
It’s interesting how the painting immediately brings this to mind. It was my first thought after seeing it, and although the title of the video made it clear there would be a deeper meaning, I think my mind would go there if I saw the painting in a neutral setting like a gallery. Something about the man’s defeated posture and the wife’s focus in her pose, implies that it’s not just a regular prayer. It’s impressive that the artist was able to capture something so subtle in his figures.
Watched this all the time growing up. So happy to learn something new. And the fact that it was used in a close up shot in an episode where they dig in to find the "good" hidden under Ernest's brand of insanity is perfect.
I thought they were burying someone too, this is the first time I’ve really looked at this painting. Then you pointed out the potatoes and I was like “sure that adds up.” Then the twist.
My father always loved the painting " L'homme à la houe" or "The Man with the Hoe." His small reproduction is on my wall now, I never knew who painted it until now, as soon as I saw "The Angelius" I knew the same man painted them. Thank you for this.
To me, Dali's theory being correct is a testament to the fact that great art is infused with something more than visual information. Almost like a lingering ghost of Millet's emotions as he painted the piece. It sounds silly, but feels right.
@@robonator2945 I think it's both--art carries a trace of the artist, of their emotions, thoughts, beliefs. That trace is found in the technique--direction, shading, focus, etc. Millet's emotions carried into the painting, even when it's subject was changed. Even if it not longer directly shows a child's burial, it still carries that initial emotion Millet put into the composition.
@@vurrunna obviously, no-one is arguing that subconscious decisions impact the work, but read the comment, "infused with something more than visual information". It's like the "collective unconscious"; there is one interpretation that is scientifically valid (the culture we see, words we use, concepts we think about, all leave miniscule, but present, imprints on our minds that ends up being the same collectively since we all view the same media), and one that isn't. (magic brain scape that transfers information and all humans are part of the hivemind but only a little bit)
The thing I love about this channel is that it has a semi theme, video essays, but you dive into obscure topics, or just create your own stuff and have fun with it.
I am not usually stirred up emotionally by art like paintings, but the moment I saw this one I immediately felt the grief of the subjects welling up inside of me. Dealing with painful losses that are sudden, even as recently as a month ago but it being a recurring theme throughout my adolescence and adulthood losing people tragically or suddenly. The way they are holding themselves up is the way I have felt, it is an unmistakable gesture of mourning. I would like to own a copy of this painting.
This is so crazy. I knew nothing of this piece of art work prior to this video. A couple weeks ago we were at the auction here in the small town where I live, this painting came up for bid, I ended up winning it for like $9. It's not a painting but a black and white print, lithograph maybe? But it was framed and I really liked the work. It's a little rough from years and years of handling. But now, knowing this little bit of info, I will enjoy it even more. Thank you for sharing this.
My grandmother had this painting. It's not the full thing though, it's actually 2 seperate cut outs of each parent. You can't see the background or the foreground. I always assumed it was grieving parents. Can't believe that it actually is though after seeing the original painting.
Before you said it was a basket of potatoes I legitimately thought it was a small coffin. My screen was dark and I wasn't looking closely, but the body language and mood of the painting struck me as mournful. This is really fascinating. Well done, Austin! I love your videos, always a joy to see them pop up in my feed.
I have this very painting in my house since a while ago, my father got it pretty cheap at the market. Thing is it is pretty "worn out" and the colors are darker, making it look quite a bit more depressing and eerie. Knowing now this added fact does not make it any less grim.
I have this very painting hanging in my dining room. My mother bought it as a paint by numbers set way back in the late 60s. I was young then and remember her painting it in the evenings over what I believe is a long period of time. Even as a kid, this painting spooked me for some reason.
Truly chilling, when I first saw the blurry image of the painting on the wall, I immediately felt it had a dark, somber tone, and upon first seeing it in full a few moments later, before my brain finished taking in all the details, I immediately assumed the basket was a crib, and the parents were mourning a lost child. I can see where Dali's suspicions came from.
I live in France and this painting/image is used on so many things, the junk shops are always full of them. In my village we still ring the Angelus at 7 pm, reminding people it's time to stop working and go home. It rings again at 7 am. I find it comforting.
I don't think the coffin was painted over in order to change the subject of the painting, I think it was simply buried. Speaking from personal experience, artists put/hide details in their work that will never be seen/heard/felt/noticed in any capacity by anyone else; he may not have known we would find a way to see the coffin in the future but he knew it was there and that's all that matters in the end.
As soon as a full view of the painting was shown I instantly thought it was the scene of a burial for a baby, even though visually nothing suggests that. I'm not always that perceptive when it comes to art, so that tells you how strongly the essence of the original design shines through.
Important to note that the "coffin" in the X-Ray is just a theory: there's a very vague squarish shape, that's all you can see. It could just as easily be some other object, or just some initial brush strokes that he didn't like and painted over. Dali was convinced it was a coffin but there's really no proof of this. I think more could be gained today with the advances in imaging technology, but for now there's just some really grainy old x-rays that don't prove anything.
Myself, others in this comment section, and Dali all got the instant impression that it was a burial, and scanning reveals a clear child sized box lying next to them. A box, not a bag, a box... boxes have like one use, ESPECIALLY back then and when in a field. It really does prove quite a lot, but sure, whatever you say.
Important to note that your standard of approval and/or satisfaction is not required here. Just because the artist did not leave a dissertation on the reverse of the canvas explaining his thought process for people like you (🙄) does not mean that other rational, intuitive people can't put two and two together and come up with four. You're pretty full of your own kool-aid if you're going to gainsay Salvador Dali about _art_ for fuck's sake. Get over yourself.
Wow, I don't know why people are being so horrible to you. I'd always rather know the true story over a nice story, and this inspired me to go do some of my own research. I haven't made my mind up yet, but thank you for pointing that out!
@@jennhoff03 They are just upset about dealing with potential cognitive dissonance after having a satisfying catharsis due to the video's story. It's easier and more comfortable to simply take Austin's words as fact as opposed to them simply being elegantly stated and moderately supported opinions that are nonetheless still subject to doubt and skepticism.
i had a miscarriage a couple weeks ago and burrid my still-born daughter. i was startled when you said they were praying over a bag of potatoes.i was sure that was the expression of someone losing a child. i guess i was right.
My heart goes out to you, I had to bury my week old son who was born premature back in 1985, the pain does fade after a while, I guess everything happens for a reason even if we don't understand why.
So many videos like this on RUclips are clickbait. They have titles which are not even addressed in the video, or which hype the actual story which is insignificant. Your video is so good that it tells me something I did not already know and presents it in such a compelling way. Plus, you didn't resort to the stupid stock video clips of "random person x doing random thing y" just to show some simple act which is already being narrated. Thank you. Excellent video.
Think you should have mentioned that the X-ray image you used in the video is not real. The original x-ray is way less convincing showing just barely a square where the basket is. Also maybe interesting to add is that Dalì‘s argument for why he thinks the painting shows something different was based on a hallucination he had.
I tried to look it up, even in French, but the closest thing to the original X-ray I can find is from Dali himself in his book The Tragic Myth of Millet’s Angelus, so we have only secondary source and at this point I don't know if everyone just get bamboozled by Dali.
It's a painting of lamentation as well as gratitude, the humble days reward. Millet suffered many losses, saw little success and was nostalgic. Paying homage to his roots, his faith, his own talent itself...whether affirmed or recognized by the almost desolate world around him, he gave life to an ART uniquely his own. His memory like simple human dignity is rewarded with Posterity and Grace.
Can we talk about how Salvador Dali simply looked at a painting of some praying potato farmers, and based on a hunch concluded that it was probably supposed to depict the burial of a dead child, _and_ was confident enough about this to get the Louvre to confirm that he was right? That's some damn impressive artistic intuition.
I know nothing about art and had never heard of the artist or the painting, but my first thought was the same as Dali's. They were standing over a grave of their child. Didn't take a lot of imagination. What did take imagination (or more knowledge of the process of painting than I possess) was to think that the coffin was depicted, but buried under what was painted over it.
Wow, that's insanely beautiful (talking about everything the painting, the story, and the video itself lol). Somehow I got the sense of what was hidden behind the seeable layers. I had never heard of or seen the artist or painting before, but when I first glanced it here my immediate first thought was that a baby was in the basket and the 2 figures were parents in dismay or in an act of burial. I think that the inability to hide the initial intended somber tone of the work just demonstrates his skill imo, in his ability to depict and communicate such powerful emotion so well within the atmosphere he created on a canvas. I'm a bit upset that he didn't get all his due roses in life because his paintings are really remarkable with a lot of character, at least to me, but I'm aware that's not at all an uncommon case in the art industry. But just want to take this time to thank you again Austin for bringing a story such as this to light. This channel is truly amazing and I love just earning all the heartfelt random things that come up every now and again that would have been unlikely to come across in my life otherwise
I've had a print of this panting on my wall for years and always loved it, but never knew who painted it. I always thought she was bringing her husband dinner to the field and they were giving thanks for their blessings. Thanks!
Before I heard the explanation, I double-took for a moment because I thought I saw a baby in the basket. The basket looks like depictions of Moses flowing down the river), the potatoes form what look to be a corpse when you notice how dark green they are, and the wheel burrow behind the farmers look like its carrying a teddy bear or doll (they hay stacks look to be formed that way, and of course the concept of teddy bear wouldn't be invented so I guess Doll is a more appropriate term) I think the coffin-to-basket wasn't a last minute decision, but rather adding a layer of subtlety for curious spectators
That’s what I thought it was, the way they stood and the husband, how his hat was and head down. I thought the basket had a child in it. Wasn’t expecting a coffin. Thank you for the knowledge.
It's such an interesting thing changing perspective in how one looks at art. By that I mean for the longest time I have looked at art as this thing that is supposed to convey a message. But after being on an artistic binge recently I have realized that it is the opposite. Oftentimes the artist is making something from their psyche that they may not even fully understand. Thus oftentimes the meaning which someone gleans from the work is more than what the other person even took while creating said work.
sometimes you stumble onto an exceptional youtube video that is well articulated, well-paced, and profoundly relatable with both trivia and irony. this is one of them. good form.
Wow, I somehow had the same intuitive feeling that Dali had since the picture was first shown in this video! I was at first disappointed to learn it was just a prayer of thanks over a basket of potatoes and then when the secret truth was revealed I felt vindicated! I was right! Maybe it’s something about us artists that can feel something deeper about works of art that others usually can’t?
When I first saw the painting in the video I thought there was a child in the basket and they were about to bury their baby, there was a sadness to the couple. When you said a basket of potatoes I thought, "Oh." but then the reveal of the X-Ray somehow made me even sadder. I'm not an art expert, but it made me think about grief in general, and how everyone goes through grief in their lifetime, but often we can encounter a grieving person and not know it. It's something we often hide just to get through the day.
my french grand mother has this painting everywhere, on dishes, a pillow, a clock, multiple copies on the walls... Now I really have to ask her if she knew.
@@eyesforthewise 🤣"Sheep boy?!" I can't even be mad, I think I've just found the comment section variant of telling Cyrano de Bergerac that he has a rather large nose.
This story reminds me of how Branwell Bronte made a portrait of himself and his more-famous sisters but ultimately decided to paint over and remove himself from the image and just leave the sisters in there, feeling that his presence made the painting too crowded.
When I was a child and first saw that painting, I thought the parents were upset because the potatoes in the basket was all they could harvest (the rest having gone bad,) so that meant that they were going to starve. I suppose I was on the right track, as far as the grim subject matter went, even if I wasn't wholly accurate.
You might have been. Around the time this was painted, a terrible blight destroyed the potato crops in Ireland and Western Europe. The phytophthora infestans infection. If these farmers had just dug up some potatoes and found their crop infected, it would have meant financial and personal ruin
Fascinating! A number of people seemed to pick up on the 'dead-child', while obviously many others didn't. I think this demonstrates that an artist can put enough information into the 'background details', that no matter what the apparent prime focus/message might be, some folks will still sense the 'original foundation', despite the obfuscation (deliberate or incidental)!
He’s one of my favorite classic artists… and funny enough, so is Dali. Learning that he was the reason this secret was found in the first place swells up my love for both artists even more! Thank you for sharing this. ❤️
My grandmother had a print of this painting and I have it now. I always saw the sadness in this painting and thought the same as Salvador and now that I know the actual story I feel validation.
Wow, that is a testament to the artist's ability to express emotion so clearly. I grew up seeing a reproduction of this painting, although I guess I never studied it too closely. I always assumed it was of two parents praying over the grave of a lost child. I mean, that's what it looks like if you don't look too closely, right? I was shocked when he said it was a basket of potatoes and then doubly shocked to see the part about the X-rays.
I nearly jumped out of my chair when I saw that painting. My grandparents have a copy of that same painting framed in their dining room, and it has been there for almost 30 years. I know that painting so well, so that surprised me.
@@austinmcconnell Working to feel better, also didn’t expect you to reply, Really made my day! Thanks for all the videos you make, I myself am trying to start making videos analyzing random things but haven’t really started working yet. I’d love to see a tutorial of your process from how you get the ideas to how you research and so on!
I normally don’t have a great appreciation for so called great art. The store you told made me appreciate this picture and study it. The church in the background, the thoughts in the peoples heads, the story of the child….. this painting is very thought provoking. This will stay in my head……. I guess this is what I’d call great art ! Great story, thank you!
woaw, that was a chilling find, a child berried in the picture. And really that dose make that a picture showcasing one of the normal and grim sides for the common life back in the day. I can see him willfully painting over the coffen, a really symbolic thing. What a picture.
Hi there. I'm making a movie, and I need your help: bit.ly/GOATLAS
cope
I really want to see atlas
@@user-wj9vu4fl6p oh shut up.
@@user-wj9vu4fl6p no
@@user-wj9vu4fl6p Well THAT'S a fine how do you do...
X-raying vintage paintings is so freaking cool. It almost feels wrong like we are uncovering secrets the artist never intended us to see. But the curiosity and pursuit of knowledge far outweighs that feeling for me. We finally get to know the artists unfiltered and uncensored intent hidden by layers of paint.
This is why digital art is the way to go 😂
@@Pikm4n Nah, digital art has their place and so does physical ones.
beam yeyeah I know, I just meant for the particular reason of not wanting your art xrayed
@@Pikm4n haha yes I'll keep that in mind. Now no one can uncover my secrets
@@Pikm4n I found your PSD, I know about your mess of layers!
Your video came across my March 12 feed today my 74 birthday. This was a beautiful story. Having lost my daughter to leukemia when she was only seven. I am profoundly moved by this painting. Thank You I grew up watching Andy every week and somehow this gives me comfort. A mother never truly recovers. Sincerely, Meredith’s Mother
We see our loved ones in Heaven again. Never forget the love that Jesus Christ feels for you.
my Name Jeff
@@beef2cho hahaha 😐
Wishing you well, old bird!
The reveal of the x-ray absolutely floored me. I had the same interpretation at the start, purely from the farmers expressions and pose, and the overall tone of the picture. Of course, this interpretation began to wade as you went into the history of the angelus, and i kinda forgot about it until the Dali segment. It's just wild to me just how much art can really communicate through its aesthetics alone, being able to still express the underlying sentiment through sheer *atmosphere* ...
I had the exact same thought when he first showed the painting. The way art communicates things to us that can't be seen by human eyes, but felt by the soul is astounding.
I didn't get any sense of what the painting was "really about" but I did get a sense that the picture of more of mourning than of praying for prosperity.
The fact that several people all came to this conclusion AND *_ONLY_* the box was different further proves that it was a burial. Since only the box was different all of the poses, shading, etc likely remained constant, so if those poses and other subconscious ques lead you to believe that it is about a burial, then it lines up perfectly. It's kind of like a double blind study, you don't "know" if your getting the real medicine, so if you do suddenly improve dramatically it's evidence that the medicine works. (of course, this analogy isn't perfect, since there really isn't a way to placebo yourself into finding the true original meaning of a painting)
@@robonator2945 i can definitely see it, would as a principle refute there ever being a 'true original meaning' to any piece of art, but i still really like the connection to double-blind studies. It definitely provides some key insights into the specifics of how it works as you yourself mentioned.
Same thing here. I didn’t think anything else made much sense .
Honestly my first impression was parents mourning a child. It’s so deeply captured. Beautiful and haunting work of art.
Plus the basket doesn't look like potato baskets from that era it does in fact look like a baby basket from then and even by modern standards.
Perhaps he left a hint to it's true meaning by using the basket as a clue. If you do an image search of potato baskets from that era they are mostly square with handles on the side made out of metal or woven. Baby baskets back then looked like the one in the painting.
Even today you see baby baskets like that.
But why next to a fence on farmland? That seems odd no matter how poor they might be!
Haunting. I know the title of the video primed me for it, but Dalí's suspicion of the painting was my first impression of it as well.
I thought something was off about it, I was thinking "it doesn't look like praying, but morning" and I had no idea why untill he showed the x-ray.
It wasn't until a close up of the basket that I saw potatoes. It looked like a bassinet to me at first
@@Dysiode I intially thought the potatoes was a child, and maybe the outline of the coffin tricks your brain, but I swear I can see the cracks of the paint forming the rectangle of the coffin.
@@gregoryent yeah i originally thought the basket had a baby my brain only half thought of the idea of it being a dead one
I think we have to take in mind that we are advanced in references and content. Looking at Dali appearances on tv one can't see anything special until you realise that we are looking we modern eyes a man that liked to make an spectacle of his persona on the much contrive media of the time. So he catched the way you do to now.
There’s a similarly haunting overpainting found with Breugel’s ‘Massacre of The Innocents’. The artist depicted the biblical story of Herod’s order to kill all infants in the area of Bethlehem, but rather than the ancient Middle-East he set the scene in his own contemporary Netherlands.
However a few decades after Bruegel’s death the Holy Roman Emperor ordered the scene overpainted to eliminate the subject of dead and dying children. They were replaced with livestock and produce.
At a glance the painting looks like a typical Bruegel, if not quite a jolly scene then one of no worse than plunder and mischief. But as you look closer the more disturbing it becomes. A woman wails in horror because a soldier is stabbing the jug she clutches; another stands aghast over some meats and cheese lying in the snow; a couple offer their daughter to soldiers instead of a large bird; empty bundles of rags are torn from women’s arms.
The overpainting gives a surreal horror to the painting that is arguably more haunting and upsetting than the direct depiction of the massacre.
Thank you for such an interesting and informative art history comment! I feel as of I've practically seen it already from your well written narrative.
But now I do hope that I can manage to see this intriguing piece of art online.
The overpainting is a kind of crime against humanity. Alike in spirit to the slaughter of innocents, if not in magnitude.
wow, that is so haunting. i just looked it up and you're absolutely right. simply surreal
How fascinating! I had no idea and I absolutely love Bruegel. Thank you for sharing.
I just looked it up and in the very bottom left corner, you can see a baby's head nestled beneath its mother as she flees partially out of frame. They missed one. At a cursory glance, it actually just seemed like a buxom woman's breast, but the rest of the piece lacks any sensuality, so when zooming in drastically, it became a very obvious baby's head.
I could definitely sense what the painting was. I didn't necessarily get the specifics, but...wow.
Yeah, at first glance I was sure there was a somber feeling in the painting. My interpretation was that they were nearly starving peasants, praying that this meager harvest would be enough to get them through the winter.
When I saw it I instantly thought the basket was for a child and noticed it didn’t have one in it. Didn’t notice the potatoes so I thought maybe it was parents burying their child. Wild that that’s what it was.
Spoilers
@@gotrejo Sorry, will edit
Same
This painting and Salvador Dali's recognition of mournfulness rather than hopeful prayer is the heart of truly recognizing great masterpieces. It takes a special gift to see the painter's actual meaning and emotions expressed in the art. For it is there for all to see.
Winston Churchill was an avid painter. A good one. He painted many paintings of a pond he put in his backyard. A great impressionist painter Graham Sutherland was commissioned to paint Winston Churchill's portrait. He studied Churchill and upon looking at his pond paintings, he saw them as dark and sad. Churchill of course denied sadness as a motivation when painting the pond. With encouragement from Sutherland, they both explored the paintings of the pond and together they discovered Churchill had built the pond just after his baby daughter Marigold was born. She passed away at the age of 3 of a throat infection. Churchill had connected the pond he made for Marigold with her, and of her loss. So he would think of her while painting the pond and his sorrow over her loss came out in the paintings. Art moves us because it speaks. It often lays bare the artist making the art whether the artist knows it or not.
True story briefly touched on in the series, "The Crown".
Malay's "Angeles" was changed by him perhaps to make it a more sellable painting, but he could not hide the sadness expressed by him. Not at least from Salvador Dali.
Hear hear, my sentiments exactly!
@Brent Testerman Isn't art in all its expressions from all kinds of people such a wonderful study of humanity? I find it truly beautiful, fascinating and an amazing insite to feelings, emotions and ways of thinking. Universal across many cultures. How does one paint sadness, joy, anger, love? What we see is what we paint. How are feelings placed in the brush strokes? And yet they are there. Its incredible.
@@KellysAdventures305 Indeed, m'lady.
Millet not Malay
The artist in this topjc is Corbet and not what ever na e they used in the posting.
The school reflected in Courbet`s paintings is Realism. This artistic philosophy is not concerened with say a photographic representation. Rather it was Corbet's intention to show life as it was for European peasants. This movement was founded by Corbet who believed that modern artist stopped being on the cutting edge but had all become self-serving.
This was shocking to the structured art machinery in the Salon establishment. The peasant class did not commissioning portraits. Corbet believed paitnting life as it existed in fact was more worthy than something that matches the couch.
When i look at this painting i think about periods of failed crops and hunger. The pair have stopped working for the call of the bells and praying for a good crop. To a member of the aristocratic class Corbet's paintings pulled back the screen to show life that was unknowable and was harshly rejected because in recognizing the importance of the subject and a flash of responsability? Of corse! But can it match the couch?
What I love is we are all right.
true story- i’m a teen and my parents have a copy of this painting in our house. i seriously always thought the same thing. my parents always said i was being “dramatic” and it’s not that. now ima go prove that i was right. thanks austin.
Report back! Tell us how it goes!
@@erraticonteuse i just did, my mom was surprised and i could see her pondering whether to take it down or not 😂😂😂
Commenting to be aware of a follow up just in case
What are the odds lol
@@shards-of-glass-man me too
It's interesting, and speaks to Millet's talent - I honestly hadn't seen that painting before (the only one I recall ever seeing before was "The Sower"), but parents burying an infant was precisely what I first thought it was, until the close-up of it. Imagine my surprised-yet-not-surprised reaction when you revealed that's exactly what it originally was...
Same, I assumed the basket contained a stillborn baby based on the posture of the man and woman alone. The impression was so strong that when the close-up revealed the basket was full of potatoes, the contents of wheelbarrow behind them suddenly started looking like the body of a child wrapped in a makeshift shroud. I’m genuinely surprised many people apparently thought the couple was just praying over potatoes when just a brief glimpse of them had my brain looking everywhere for the deceased child their poses told me was there.
Same here - I thought an infant was in the basket. Something about their pose looked sorrowful rather than prayerful. Pretty amazing of Millet to capture the mood.
@@boston_octopus It really is, it’s rare to find a painting so evocative, even among masters. Imagine being able to tell at a glance exactly what the Mona Lisa was feeling.
I always wonder where your process on a video like this starts. Were you aware of the painting, in general, but not the history? Were you casually watching Andy Griffith? Was someone talking about changes in set dressing and you went looking for examples? Etc, etc. Your videos seem so random, but they always have this strangely valuable through line that seem impossible to plan. Every video appears to be a magically profound accident.
Seems like it captures the feeling of a Wikipedia spiral or something.
Coincidentally I had nearly that exact thought. Did Austin just notice that painting randomly while doing a AGS binge and started researching it?
The painting's story was going around on tiktok a little while ago, he probably heard about it there
im wondering the same thing! i hope he replies.
Hi, MeTV wrote an article about this a few years ago. I'm guessing he seen the article at some point.
Mark Twain wrote an interesting short story called "Is He Living Or Is He Dead?" which features Millet and the Angelus. It is about four poor artists who are roommates. They're down to their last scraps, lamenting the fact that an artist never seems to make it big until after he's dead. One of them comes up with the idea of how to get that type of money now. The idea is that one of them has to die. Millet is the one selected, however he doesn't actually die. The plan is for him to pile up stock while the other three go out and sell it, dropping hints that his health is poor. When the time is right, he will "die" but really he will change his identity and disappear. And so they put this plan into action. I forget how much The Angelus sells for in the story, but the secondary narrator (one of the artists who tells the story to the first narrator) says that Millet would have sold it for a pork chop. Quite a good story.
I thought Calvin Coolidge wrote that.
Quite a telling take on the human condition.
My grandma used to watch this all the time with me, I remembered this episode. Great video, Austin! Love your work. Stay safe!
I used watch it with my dad on tv land. Good times.
Duuuuude, same here! Barney was our favorite character :)
@@yohanahramen6756 Barney was the best
My mom, in her 70's love it too. She can watch it all day long.
@@Bmthighlights I don't care what anyone says, Don Knotts was a master of physical comedy and made that show!
I swear on my life I had the exact same thought when you first showed the painting. That it was a couple mourning their child. That's so chilling. This is an amazing video.
Me too. People don't bow their heads in prayer for a crop three times a day like that. They bow their heads like that in grief.
Is it weird to say that that was my first impression of it too? With no context of the Angelus and the way the basket of potatoes made me think of a cradle, my mind went to parents who lost a child. The overall atmosphere is grim, and solemn enough that it just felt like a more accurate description of the painting's story.
yes i felt that tto
Yeah, until he said they were potatoes, I assumed the basket had a child. It just feels like that's what it is.
Yes, my first thought too.
Weird, me too! And I had never seen the painting before in my life.
Ditto. The artist did such a great job that even when altered most of us still get it.
The painting is really uncanny. Not just the fact that they’re hunched over, eyes shut, hats removed, praying over a basket of potatoes, but the way their dark figures are juxtaposed against the bright sky is so dramatic it seems almost out of place. The use of light gives me Caravaggio vibes because it’s so just so stark.
Honestly I’m not surprised that Dalí was the one to surmise that they were mourning someone. Truly a brilliant piece. Doesn’t fail to give me goosebumps whenever I look at it.
Plus the basket looks like a baby basket and not a farmer's potato basket.
“The Education of Ernest T Bass” is a really good episode of The Andy Griffith Show. “Man in a Hurry” is the very best. Interesting choose to use the show as a jumping off point to talking about 19th century French art. Very well done!
One of the best. Helen Crump is the ultimate stern/psycho-sexual schoolmarm in it. Ernest T. clues into something that Andy’s dark look by the fireplace reveals. “A lot of us like her”? Is Helen an adventuress? Is Ernest T. a swinger?
Where’s Leonard Blush when you need him? Oh yeah that’s right. Blush’s voice is that of Howard Morris as well,
Well in the show Andy does state that he spent time “over in France during the war”. Ref; Andy Griffith Show, The Feud.
Barney and Andy's friendship is beautiful lol
Now I have to watch this episode. I watched this series everyone and then, but I don't think I've seen the dramatic episodes! Thanks for telling us that!
,,I'm in kind of a hurry. I'm really late for my son's karate class!"
(Arnold Schwarzenegger)
That was my first thought seeing this painting too. Seemed like parents in mourning. Not because I'm a great art expert, but rather a good observer of people. Of course it takes a great artist to be able to relay those feelings on canvas.
Literally as soon as I looked at it "they look like they're mourning something"
I thought they were mourning too as soon as I saw it
It really shows how truly excellent a painter he was and how unjustly criticized he was during his career.
It looks like a common baby basket you see even today.
When you first showed the painting at around 3:55, my first thought was, “How sad - it looks like a funeral. They must be burying a lost child.” I’m not surprised at all that Dali got the same sense from the image.
Seems obvious to me lol
yeah lol
Was my thought, too. I expected the narrator to zoom in on the basket to reveal a deceased infant about to be buried. The body language of this couple is way too mournful for it to be about "c'mon taters!" However, if they just discovered that their crop was infected with phytophthora infestans, they would have been shattered. The failure of potato crops in Europe and Ireland was a terrible economic tragedy in the late 19th century. Widespread starvation, millions died as a result of just this one plant getting a blight.
RUclips is the most amazing place. I can't imagine how in the world you came to devote a seven-and-a-half minute video to a background painting on The Andy Griffith Show's set that never receives a single mention during any episode, but I'm glad that you did.
Love this video. The coffin at the end was totally unexpected
Well, it would have been…
It's interesting that when The painting got the close up. The coffin/ potato basket was hidden by his head. Also, it's odd that the potato basket looks sort of like a bassinet
It's even more fitting due to the fact that Andy's wife had died ---
My aunt had a print of this painting in her living room when I was a kid. I always found it creepy and depressing. Never knew the story behind it. Wow. Thanks for this video 👍
Beautiful video, Austin. I think for me, even if it never made it into the final version, the image of the coffin adds a lot to the painting. It becomes a painting about the trials and hardships of a rural farm life. There are so many forgotten stories of people who, historically, never had the means to pass on their histories by any means but orally. Losing a child is a devastation, and these people-no matter the heartbreak they must feel-must still keep going on, because they don’t have the luxury to stop and grieve. So many regrets and traumas never fully moved through, because people couldn’t afford to dwell on them.
I dunno if any of this makes sense. Maybe I’m just being a pretentious art interpreter right now. But I think it’s tragic.
Art interpretation is only pretentious if you're pretending. If this was your sincere interpretation, it's as valid as any!!
Art doesn't belong to the elite, it belongs to the whole of humanity, and noone has the final say.
It is sunset, after a hard day's labour. Now they have the time to bury their child. They cannot afford that distant churchyard. All they have is their grief.
You're right.
These children also lost to history. The parents grieve and the children’s lives are cut short, forgotten, simply because they didn’t live long enough for anyone else to know them.
My late uncle, dad's brother had the same contemptious attitude toward farmers despite his Russian line being farmers. To make the land produce I think is pretty fantastic. Growing things to sustain yourself and others with food is pretty awesome.
Did a quick search on this btw because I found it so interesting, Apparently this is just an urban legend or creepy pasta about the painting.
The quote of Salvador Dali about the painting being about a coffin was just his artistic interpretation rather than him theorizing about what the real meaning was.
There's no images or proof of any X-Rays being made by the Louvre and finding any coffins beneath layers of paint.
All I found was a wordpress document about it, but I can't find any evidence beyond a blog to say that this legend is true.
It may be not urban legend. I also tried to track down the image and found a page from the book "The Tragic Myth of Millet’s Angelus" by Dali which shows a trapezoidal shape under the couple's feet. RUclips won't allow me to post link, but just try "X-ray The Angelus" in Google Image and you'll find it. There are also academic papers discussing Dali's idea, meaning there are critics who believe the idea is not without merit, but apparently the closest to the original X-ray is from Dali's book and even that doesn't show much beyond a geometrical mass (totally unlike what we see in the video), so clearly it's not conclusive at all.
....🤔 But is the painting on the show the real deal or a mock up?
@@tashasmith6179 it is a copy
@@tashasmith6179 what kinda idiot would borrow a real painting from art museum to use as props on their show lol
I definitely got the same melancholic feel from the painting when I first saw it. I actually thought that maybe the basket was symbolic of a lost baby in some way, especially since it was on the ground between the parents. The x-ray at the end shocked me: not just because it was true, but also the way his raw sorrow couldn't be buried. I think that's the mark of a true artist.
Bro I love this as a deep dive into random stuff in the background of a show! Any one frame of any TV show or movie could have a thousand words written about it
Before looked closely and saw the potatoes, I actually assumed it was a child’s coffin…. This painting is both heartbreaking, and beautiful.
That was a rollercoaster. Amazing work as always.
Thanks for taking the time to watch! I'll have another video out by the end of the week. It's a doozy. Be sure to tune in.
@@austinmcconnell Cool. I love doozies.
This is pretty sad, the painter of this had deep hidden feelings and probably witnessed what he saw as a child but couldn't bring himself to show everyone else and kept it to himself never realizing that technology one day might reveal his sadness.
5:22 WOW! That's exactly what I thought when I first saw it!
For those who want to learn more about the artist:
Name: "Jean-François Millet"
Painting: "Angelus"
I'm posting this, because finding his name was difficult. I kept spelling it "Malay." This is further compounded when you realize there's a paint namebrand when you search "Angelus painting."
In a way, I feel bad that Millet was so badly impacted by critics. He had a vision that he wanted to tell others, something real, but I imagine his own worry of what society would think literally caused him to alter his own art. Personally, I think that's an ultimate sin.
Thank you for your time!!!
I think sin is going a bit too far, we have to remember these people want to eat. No one wants to be a sellout, and we should encourage individuality, but if it's sellout or starve, we should give them some empathy.
Thank you. I am surprised that the information is not I the video description.
Damn, that reveal actually made my jaw drop. Well done, Austin.
Dali. Salvador Dali. Congratulate him.
@@kostis2849 I get where you‘re coming from but Austin also did a great job in telling this story and since this comment is under his video and the other dude is dead, i would say it‘s ok.
Salvador Daliis he the guy who painted twisted reality images like melted mantle clock faces and such? If he was the same artist, I have 2 reasons to like what he was responsible for.
@@kostis2849 oh never mind, just realised Dali was the guy who got the painting x-rayed. I‘m stupid🤦🏻♂️
@@kostis2849 Austin made a well constructed video and brought something to my attention that I likely never would have discovered otherwise, as I'm not an art history person in general.
With that in mind, I feel pretty comfortable in saying that he made a good video. None of that means I'm burying Dali. The Catholic church did that.
It’s interesting how the painting immediately brings this to mind. It was my first thought after seeing it, and although the title of the video made it clear there would be a deeper meaning, I think my mind would go there if I saw the painting in a neutral setting like a gallery.
Something about the man’s defeated posture and the wife’s focus in her pose, implies that it’s not just a regular prayer. It’s impressive that the artist was able to capture something so subtle in his figures.
I love Austin. His content is so interesting and subtle.
Sad but amazing that its hidden under them wile they grieve above being many layers of feelings with every level of paint
Watched this all the time growing up. So happy to learn something new. And the fact that it was used in a close up shot in an episode where they dig in to find the "good" hidden under Ernest's brand of insanity is perfect.
When I heard Dali's speculation that there would be a child's coffin, I knew instantly it had to be true. It made the painting make sense.
I thought they were burying someone too, this is the first time I’ve really looked at this painting. Then you pointed out the potatoes and I was like “sure that adds up.” Then the twist.
My father always loved the painting " L'homme à la houe" or "The Man with the Hoe." His small reproduction is on my wall now, I never knew who painted it until now, as soon as I saw "The Angelius" I knew the same man painted them. Thank you for this.
To me, Dali's theory being correct is a testament to the fact that great art is infused with something more than visual information. Almost like a lingering ghost of Millet's emotions as he painted the piece. It sounds silly, but feels right.
... or it's just subtle ques. Like the dark shading, focus on the dirt and odd positioning of the potatoes, their general body language, etc.
@@robonator2945 I think it's both--art carries a trace of the artist, of their emotions, thoughts, beliefs. That trace is found in the technique--direction, shading, focus, etc. Millet's emotions carried into the painting, even when it's subject was changed. Even if it not longer directly shows a child's burial, it still carries that initial emotion Millet put into the composition.
@@vurrunna obviously, no-one is arguing that subconscious decisions impact the work, but read the comment, "infused with something more than visual information". It's like the "collective unconscious"; there is one interpretation that is scientifically valid (the culture we see, words we use, concepts we think about, all leave miniscule, but present, imprints on our minds that ends up being the same collectively since we all view the same media), and one that isn't. (magic brain scape that transfers information and all humans are part of the hivemind but only a little bit)
also, in the catholic tradition, dead little children are called "angels", like "Angelus" the title. And Dali come from a catholic country, Spain.
Touching story. Nothing like real human stories, even in paintings.
The thing I love about this channel is that it has a semi theme, video essays, but you dive into obscure topics, or just create your own stuff and have fun with it.
I am not usually stirred up emotionally by art like paintings, but the moment I saw this one I immediately felt the grief of the subjects welling up inside of me. Dealing with painful losses that are sudden, even as recently as a month ago but it being a recurring theme throughout my adolescence and adulthood losing people tragically or suddenly. The way they are holding themselves up is the way I have felt, it is an unmistakable gesture of mourning. I would like to own a copy of this painting.
It’s one of the most beautiful paintings ever.
The light is exquisite. It casts an aura around the praying couple.
This is so crazy. I knew nothing of this piece of art work prior to this video. A couple weeks ago we were at the auction here in the small town where I live, this painting came up for bid, I ended up winning it for like $9. It's not a painting but a black and white print, lithograph maybe? But it was framed and I really liked the work. It's a little rough from years and years of handling. But now, knowing this little bit of info, I will enjoy it even more. Thank you for sharing this.
When I saw the painting I thought it seemed like people mourning as well; interesting to learn that it was indeed painted that way!
I've been in a many art classes but never knew about this..what an awesome piece of education...
Thanks so much..I'm waiting for more!
I agree, incredible story. Very very sensitive man
My grandmother had this painting. It's not the full thing though, it's actually 2 seperate cut outs of each parent. You can't see the background or the foreground.
I always assumed it was grieving parents. Can't believe that it actually is though after seeing the original painting.
This is amazing. I have this on my wall. Love it dearly.
Before you said it was a basket of potatoes I legitimately thought it was a small coffin. My screen was dark and I wasn't looking closely, but the body language and mood of the painting struck me as mournful. This is really fascinating. Well done, Austin! I love your videos, always a joy to see them pop up in my feed.
This is one of those recordings that I never knew I always wanted to see it until I saw it .
I have this very painting in my house since a while ago, my father got it pretty cheap at the market.
Thing is it is pretty "worn out" and the colors are darker, making it look quite a bit more depressing and eerie.
Knowing now this added fact does not make it any less grim.
I have this very painting hanging in my dining room. My mother bought it as a paint by numbers set way back in the late 60s. I was young then and remember her painting it in the evenings over what I believe is a long period of time. Even as a kid, this painting spooked me for some reason.
Truly chilling, when I first saw the blurry image of the painting on the wall, I immediately felt it had a dark, somber tone, and upon first seeing it in full a few moments later, before my brain finished taking in all the details, I immediately assumed the basket was a crib, and the parents were mourning a lost child. I can see where Dali's suspicions came from.
Just like always Austin, you've done it again. Wonderful job on this!
I live in France and this painting/image is used on so many things, the junk shops are always full of them. In my village we still ring the Angelus at 7 pm, reminding people it's time to stop working and go home. It rings again at 7 am. I find it comforting.
I don't think the coffin was painted over in order to change the subject of the painting, I think it was simply buried. Speaking from personal experience, artists put/hide details in their work that will never be seen/heard/felt/noticed in any capacity by anyone else; he may not have known we would find a way to see the coffin in the future but he knew it was there and that's all that matters in the end.
As soon as a full view of the painting was shown I instantly thought it was the scene of a burial for a baby, even though visually nothing suggests that. I'm not always that perceptive when it comes to art, so that tells you how strongly the essence of the original design shines through.
Important to note that the "coffin" in the X-Ray is just a theory: there's a very vague squarish shape, that's all you can see. It could just as easily be some other object, or just some initial brush strokes that he didn't like and painted over. Dali was convinced it was a coffin but there's really no proof of this. I think more could be gained today with the advances in imaging technology, but for now there's just some really grainy old x-rays that don't prove anything.
Myself, others in this comment section, and Dali all got the instant impression that it was a burial, and scanning reveals a clear child sized box lying next to them. A box, not a bag, a box... boxes have like one use, ESPECIALLY back then and when in a field. It really does prove quite a lot, but sure, whatever you say.
Bruh those two people look sad as fuck, no way they aren't mourning over something
Important to note that your standard of approval and/or satisfaction is not required here. Just because the artist did not leave a dissertation on the reverse of the canvas explaining his thought process for people like you (🙄) does not mean that other rational, intuitive people can't put two and two together and come up with four. You're pretty full of your own kool-aid if you're going to gainsay Salvador Dali about _art_ for fuck's sake.
Get over yourself.
Wow, I don't know why people are being so horrible to you. I'd always rather know the true story over a nice story, and this inspired me to go do some of my own research. I haven't made my mind up yet, but thank you for pointing that out!
@@jennhoff03 They are just upset about dealing with potential cognitive dissonance after having a satisfying catharsis due to the video's story. It's easier and more comfortable to simply take Austin's words as fact as opposed to them simply being elegantly stated and moderately supported opinions that are nonetheless still subject to doubt and skepticism.
It was the first thing I thought of when I saw this painting. There is so much emotion there.
i had a miscarriage a couple weeks ago and burrid my still-born daughter. i was startled when you said they were praying over a bag of potatoes.i was sure that was the expression of someone losing a child. i guess i was right.
Sorry to hear that, I can only imagine what that must have been like. May she Rest in Peace
I’m very sorry
My heart goes out to you, I had to bury my week old son who was born premature back in 1985, the pain does fade after a while, I guess everything happens for a reason even if we don't understand why.
Sending hugs and empathy 🤗 sorry about the loss of the little one.
Wow. Hopes you are ok.
So many videos like this on RUclips are clickbait. They have titles which are not even addressed in the video, or which hype the actual story which is insignificant. Your video is so good that it tells me something I did not already know and presents it in such a compelling way. Plus, you didn't resort to the stupid stock video clips of "random person x doing random thing y" just to show some simple act which is already being narrated. Thank you. Excellent video.
Think you should have mentioned that the X-ray image you used in the video is not real. The original x-ray is way less convincing showing just barely a square where the basket is. Also maybe interesting to add is that Dalì‘s argument for why he thinks the painting shows something different was based on a hallucination he had.
I tried to look it up, even in French, but the closest thing to the original X-ray I can find is from Dali himself in his book The Tragic Myth of Millet’s Angelus, so we have only secondary source and at this point I don't know if everyone just get bamboozled by Dali.
@@Kriophoros No one is immune to Dali
@@Kriophoros they aren't crying about potatoes
@@no_peace you should get your eyes checked if you think you can see tears
It's a painting of lamentation as well as gratitude, the humble days reward. Millet suffered many losses, saw little success and was nostalgic. Paying homage to his roots, his faith, his own talent itself...whether affirmed or recognized by the almost desolate world around him, he gave life to an ART uniquely his own. His memory like simple human dignity is rewarded with Posterity and Grace.
Can we talk about how Salvador Dali simply looked at a painting of some praying potato farmers, and based on a hunch concluded that it was probably supposed to depict the burial of a dead child, _and_ was confident enough about this to get the Louvre to confirm that he was right? That's some damn impressive artistic intuition.
I know nothing about art and had never heard of the artist or the painting, but my first thought was the same as Dali's. They were standing over a grave of their child. Didn't take a lot of imagination. What did take imagination (or more knowledge of the process of painting than I possess) was to think that the coffin was depicted, but buried under what was painted over it.
@@patrickmorgan4006 My initial thought was it was a dead baby in a basket.
Wow, that's insanely beautiful (talking about everything the painting, the story, and the video itself lol). Somehow I got the sense of what was hidden behind the seeable layers. I had never heard of or seen the artist or painting before, but when I first glanced it here my immediate first thought was that a baby was in the basket and the 2 figures were parents in dismay or in an act of burial. I think that the inability to hide the initial intended somber tone of the work just demonstrates his skill imo, in his ability to depict and communicate such powerful emotion so well within the atmosphere he created on a canvas. I'm a bit upset that he didn't get all his due roses in life because his paintings are really remarkable with a lot of character, at least to me, but I'm aware that's not at all an uncommon case in the art industry. But just want to take this time to thank you again Austin for bringing a story such as this to light. This channel is truly amazing and I love just earning all the heartfelt random things that come up every now and again that would have been unlikely to come across in my life otherwise
I've had a print of this panting on my wall for years and always loved it, but never knew who painted it. I always thought she was bringing her husband dinner to the field and they were giving thanks for their blessings. Thanks!
Before I heard the explanation, I double-took for a moment because I thought I saw a baby in the basket.
The basket looks like depictions of Moses flowing down the river), the potatoes form what look to be a corpse when you notice how dark green they are, and the wheel burrow behind the farmers look like its carrying a teddy bear or doll (they hay stacks look to be formed that way, and of course the concept of teddy bear wouldn't be invented so I guess Doll is a more appropriate term)
I think the coffin-to-basket wasn't a last minute decision, but rather adding a layer of subtlety for curious spectators
That’s what I thought it was, the way they stood and the husband, how his hat was and head down. I thought the basket had a child in it. Wasn’t expecting a coffin. Thank you for the knowledge.
It's such an interesting thing changing perspective in how one looks at art. By that I mean for the longest time I have looked at art as this thing that is supposed to convey a message. But after being on an artistic binge recently I have realized that it is the opposite. Oftentimes the artist is making something from their psyche that they may not even fully understand. Thus oftentimes the meaning which someone gleans from the work is more than what the other person even took while creating said work.
sometimes you stumble onto an exceptional youtube video that is well articulated, well-paced, and profoundly relatable with both trivia and irony. this is one of them. good form.
I’m sure it’s great as always Austin!
This brought a tear to my eye.
Wow, I somehow had the same intuitive feeling that Dali had since the picture was first shown in this video! I was at first disappointed to learn it was just a prayer of thanks over a basket of potatoes and then when the secret truth was revealed I felt vindicated! I was right! Maybe it’s something about us artists that can feel something deeper about works of art that others usually can’t?
The conclusion of this video really impacted me. The storytelling you have done in this video was phenomenal.
When I first saw the painting in the video I thought there was a child in the basket and they were about to bury their baby, there was a sadness to the couple. When you said a basket of potatoes I thought, "Oh." but then the reveal of the X-Ray somehow made me even sadder. I'm not an art expert, but it made me think about grief in general, and how everyone goes through grief in their lifetime, but often we can encounter a grieving person and not know it. It's something we often hide just to get through the day.
my french grand mother has this painting everywhere, on dishes, a pillow, a clock, multiple copies on the walls... Now I really have to ask her if she knew.
Quite honestly at first glance that's what I thought it was. That these were two parents who had just buried their infant.
No you didn't, sheep boy.
@@eyesforthewise 🤣"Sheep boy?!" I can't even be mad, I think I've just found the comment section variant of telling Cyrano de Bergerac that he has a rather large nose.
This shows you the brilliance of Dali ,how he read the painting and saw the realities of life this artist rempered!
This story reminds me of how Branwell Bronte made a portrait of himself and his more-famous sisters but ultimately decided to paint over and remove himself from the image and just leave the sisters in there, feeling that his presence made the painting too crowded.
I think somehow the shovel in the ground and the church in the back ground give the feeling of sadness especially the couple !
When I was a child and first saw that painting, I thought the parents were upset because the potatoes in the basket was all they could harvest (the rest having gone bad,) so that meant that they were going to starve. I suppose I was on the right track, as far as the grim subject matter went, even if I wasn't wholly accurate.
You might have been. Around the time this was painted, a terrible blight destroyed the potato crops in Ireland and Western Europe. The phytophthora infestans infection. If these farmers had just dug up some potatoes and found their crop infected, it would have meant financial and personal ruin
The fact that paintings can be x-rayed like that is amazing.
More Andy Griffith finally!!
Fascinating! A number of people seemed to pick up on the 'dead-child', while obviously many others didn't. I think this demonstrates that an artist can put enough information into the 'background details', that no matter what the apparent prime focus/message might be, some folks will still sense the 'original foundation', despite the obfuscation (deliberate or incidental)!
He’s one of my favorite classic artists… and funny enough, so is Dali. Learning that he was the reason this secret was found in the first place swells up my love for both artists even more! Thank you for sharing this. ❤️
I had heard the story before. But never with as much information about the artist himself. Thank you for this
My grandmother had a print of this painting and I have it now. I always saw the sadness in this painting and thought the same as Salvador and now that I know the actual story I feel validation.
Wow, that is a testament to the artist's ability to express emotion so clearly. I grew up seeing a reproduction of this painting, although I guess I never studied it too closely. I always assumed it was of two parents praying over the grave of a lost child. I mean, that's what it looks like if you don't look too closely, right? I was shocked when he said it was a basket of potatoes and then doubly shocked to see the part about the X-rays.
Your "story" was beautifully strung together from beginning back around to the beginning again. Thank you!
I nearly jumped out of my chair when I saw that painting. My grandparents have a copy of that same painting framed in their dining room, and it has been there for almost 30 years. I know that painting so well, so that surprised me.
Mine too. Shit you not.
Great story! There are so many things most of us will never know.
Glad I found this.
Hello to fellow viewers of Austin McConnell’s channel, how are you all doing?
I'm doing pretty good. You?
Pretty good personally!
I have off today from college for presidents day. 😀
@@austinmcconnell Working to feel better, also didn’t expect you to reply, Really made my day!
Thanks for all the videos you make, I myself am trying to start making videos analyzing random things but haven’t really started working yet.
I’d love to see a tutorial of your process from how you get the ideas to how you research and so on!
@@ezrarichardson279 Glad to hear that, hope things keep going great!
For those wondering. Consumption is another term for tuberculosis or TB.
When the French get involved you know it's gonna be fucked up.
I normally don’t have a great appreciation for so called great art. The store you told made me appreciate this picture and study it. The church in the background, the thoughts in the peoples heads, the story of the child….. this painting is very thought provoking. This will stay in my head……. I guess this is what I’d call great art ! Great story, thank you!
woaw, that was a chilling find, a child berried in the picture.
And really that dose make that a picture showcasing one of the normal and grim sides for the common life back in the day.
I can see him willfully painting over the coffen, a really symbolic thing. What a picture.
Never seen the painting before but instantly I got the feeling they were mourning and not praying.
I had never heard of this artist but I absolutely adore that painting