Millet devoted his talent to the depiction of scenes from peasant life, and this is a typical example of his work. Himself of peasant origin, Millet knew from his own experience how hard was rural life. Here two women in rough homespun and wooden clogs, bent beneath the weight of their load, are returning home along a road through a wood in the twilight. The low-sunk heads and the bent backs, the slow step and hands tightly gripping the cord tell us that their bodies are strained to the utmost. Thanks to the simplicity of the composition and the generalised treatment of forms, these images of women become almost monumental. Using a dark, dulled colouring, the artist created the impression of the light of dusk which softens the outlines of the figures and makes them blend with the landscape. Millet's peasant girls thus are perceived as a composite image or symbol of all labouring folk.