Indeed, with this representation of a winnower, Millet turns away from his literary and artistic references to offer works directly inspired by the peasant life, a vein that he will pursue from 1849 by settling in Barbizon.

[4] This series indeed represents each time a winnower, dressed in his working clothes and with clogs on his feet, who, using a van, blows up the grain to separate it from the straw.

this mortar, this thick mess to retain the brush, is of excellent locality, of a fine and warm tone when one steps back three paces.

He also adds that "M. Millet's painting has everything it takes to exasperate the bourgeois with hairless chins", a remark which explains the interest that the Republicans found in this work.

Its importance is all the greater as it notably inspired Gustave Courbet for his painting The Stone Breakers, made in 1849, which was destroyed during the bombardment of Dresden in 1945.