oan’s garden with the back wall of her house in the distance, and in front of the saints is a stool and wooden frame that thread is being wound around. The garden is filled with trees, shrubs, grass and only a few flowers. There is an abundance of green shades in this painting, but the gentle use of them in the leaves, grass, and shrubs are done well. To not overpower the picture on a whole, the greens are broken up with three different elements. One, being the light shades of brown used in the trees, the ground, the wooden stool, and the frame. The other two, being the gray stone wall of the house and the small patches of blue sky showing through tree branches. Bastien-Lepage used his skills to create this background landscape that shows plenty of detail and realism but still holds back some of the naturalism that he shows in Joan.In this painting, Bastien-Lepage is trying to get across the feelings of Joan after receiving a revelation from heaven in her parents’ garden. Joan had been working in the garden sitting on a stool and weaving something on a frame when the heavenly images appeared right in front of her. At that moment, Joan must have had feelings of surprise and fear, as the stool is shown knocked over on its side. After receiving the revelation with Saint Michael holding out a sword for her, Joan walks away and leans her head and shoulder against a tree in the foreground. There she stands, looking upward and off the painting to the heavens, with an enormous feeling that bleeds off the painting and into one’s heart. The saints are then left in the background looking upon Joan with hope of her understanding in what has to be done. Most humans may never have a heavenly experience quite like this, but can certainly imagine the way one might feel, as the artist has portrayed it well. This story is depicted well, but it is only understood after really looking into the painting, since the focus is on Jo...
