Claude-Émile Schuffenecker

Sommaruga Collection, Torino
Private Collection, France

Jill-Elyse Grossvogel writes that the present work is, “most likely set outside Paris in the suburbs which were home to the giant flour mills -- the structures seen in the distance. The significance of this painting lies in its scale -- the largest composition in Schuffenecker's oeuvre -- and the treatment of a social issue for the first time: at the end of a day's work in the mills, one sees a working class couple in close contrast to a bourgeois couple whose backs are towards the viewer. The artist's outspoken support of populist and often radical causes gives credence to the political and economic overtones in this painting. The importance of the subject matter is far greater than the use of a striated technique in the execution of the canvas. Schuffenecker's commitment to the socialism of Jean Jaures as well as his lengthy writings about left-wing issues, participation of the first labor strikes, and speaking out for keeping museums open at night to offer the working classes time to view current and classical art are evidence of the strength of this observed scene" (Jill-Elyse Grossvogel, letter to author, 18 September 2005).