The man on the left holds his cap in front of him, his gaze lowered, while the woman beside him folds her hands tightly at her chest. A garden fork is planted in the earth near the man’s feet, and a basket of potatoes sits between the two figures, marking the center of their quiet ritual. Behind the woman, a wooden wheelbarrow loaded with a sack rests on the uneven ground, its wheel angled toward the horizon.

Both figures wear sturdy rural clothing: the man in trousers and clogs, the woman in a bonnet, apron, and thick dress, their forms silhouetted against the fading light. A small church steeple rises on the horizon, just right of center, its outline faint but distinct against the evening sky. The brushwork is smooth and atmospheric, with subtle transitions of color in the sky and gentle modeling of the figures, while the earth is rendered with rougher strokes and textured detail.

The composition places the two peasants in the foreground, their dark forms anchoring the scene, while the open landscape and distant church emphasize the vastness and quiet of rural life. The left edge of the painting shows a patch of rough, uneven earth, with tufts of grass and pale highlights catching the light near the bottom corner. The right edge of the canvas fades into shadow, with the wheelbarrow's wooden handles and wheel partly cropped by the frame.

Soft golden and pink hues from the setting sun illuminate the upper left sky, while the figures remain in deep shadow, emphasizing the contrast between the glowing horizon and the darkened foreground. The Angelus was painted by Jean-François Millet in 1858, and shows a moment of prayer at the end of the working day. The Musée d'Orsay identifies the figures as a man and a woman, and the objects around them include a garden fork, wheelbarrow, basket of potatoes, and clogs.