True to one of Millet's favourite subjects – peasant life – this painting is the culmination of ten years of research on the theme of the gleaners. These women incarnate the rural working-class. They were authorised to go quickly through the fields at sunset to pick up, one by one, the ears of corn missed by the harvesters. The painter shows three of them in the foreground, bent double, their eyes raking the ground. He thus juxtaposes the three phases of the back-breaking repetitive movement imposed by this thankless task: bending over, picking up the ears of corn and straightening up again.
　Their austerity contrasts with the abundant harvest in the distance: haystacks, sheaves of wheat, a cart and a busy crowd of harvesters. The festive, brightly lit bustle is further distanced by the abrupt change of scale.
　The slanting light of the setting sun accentuates the volumes in the foreground and gives the gleaners a sculptural look. It picks out their hands, necks, shoulders and backs and brightens the colours of their clothing.
　Then Millet slowly smudges the distance into a powdery golden haze, accentuating the bucolic impression of the scene in the background. The man on horseback, isolated on the right, is probably a steward. In charge of supervising the work on the estate, he also makes sure that the gleaners respect the rules governing their task. His presence adds social distance by bringing a reminder of the landlords he represents. Without using picturesque anecdotes, merely through simple, sober pictorial procedures, Millet gives these certainly poor but no less dignified gleaners an emblematic value free of any hint of miserabilism.

百度翻译：http://fanyi.baidu.com

色彩　画面中三位农妇都着头巾，但米勒却使用了红、黄、蓝三种不同的颜色来表现，红、黄、蓝三原色在这里运用得十分巧妙，画面整体使用了迷人的暖黄色调，红、蓝两块沉稳浓郁的色彩融于柔和的黄色调子中，使整个画面安静又庄重。前景中的安静和后景中紧张的劳动形成鲜明对比，同时又把前景同后景的劳动关系紧密联系起来，画面和谐，如同一曲交响乐。米勒笔下的形象都不很细致，五官是模糊的，只以粗线条来勾勒人物的大轮廓，以其人物造型来体现其生动性。

构图　在构图上，米勒采用了黄金分割率对画面进行整体安排，红头巾的农妇是整幅画的黄金分割点，蓝头巾的农妇是红头巾的农妇与画面左边边界的黄金分割点，而黄色头巾的农妇又是红头巾的农妇与画面右边边界的黄金分割点。画面三个主人公均处于画面的黄金分割点位置，使得画面均衡，体现了米勒精心巧妙的构图设计。这幅画与米勒的其他作品比较，在构图上还有一个显著的不同之处——即前景的人物都在地平线以下，不像《晚钟》《数羊女》中的人物超越地平线。而且所表达的情感也不同，不像《晚钟》《数羊女》是在低头析祷，表现农民纯朴的心与虔诚的宗教情怀。同时，近景的三位主人公形象大小上要比远景的麦草堆、马车、收获人的形象高大许多，按按照这种比例来说他们之间的距离应该非常遥远，可是当你看原面时后面的形象又清断可见，作者刻意地夸张前景与后景的比例关系，来表达画面的主题思想。仔细观察这幅作品可以发现三个主人公的视平线不同，最右边半起身的农妇，可以看到她的脸和手心，表明观察描绘她的视平线在她的下面，需要仰视她，而左边的两个农妇，可以完全看到她们的背部，说明视平线在人物的上面，需要俯视她们。