| Italian: Il quarto stato, Spanish: El Cuarto Estado | |
| Artist | Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo |
|---|---|
| Year | c. 1901 |
| Type | Oil on poplar |
| Dimensions | 293 cm × 545 cm (115 in × 215 in) |
| Location | Museo del Novecento, Milan |
The Fourth Estate is a famous picture painted by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo in 1901, originally entitled The path of workers.
The painting is an icon of the twentieth century, showing striking workers, and is in the "chromoluminarist" or divisionist style. Not only does it depict a scene of social life - a strike - it is a symbol. The people, with equal space being given to a woman with a baby in her arms, are moving towards the light. The painting represents the full development of this theme, which the artist already dealt with in paintings such as Ambassadors of hunger, Stream of people and a preparatory sketch of 1898, The path of workers. The composition of the painting is balanced in its shapes and vibrant in its light, giving the perfect idea of a mass movement.
It is held in Milan in the Museo del Novecento at the Royal Villa (Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte). An earlier version, however, is held in the Pinacoteca di Brera, also in Milan.