Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh Taft Museum of Art

The exhibition "Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape" introduces Charles François Daubigny, a relatively forgotten artist from the 1800s. It explores his landscape painting and his influence on the younger generation of artists known as the French Impressionists.

Born in Paris in 1817, Daubigny studied Dutch landscapes in the Louvre Museum and trained with painters at the French Academy. He painted this early forest view delicately and precisely, using small brushes.

In about 1851, Daubigny painted this view of peasants harvesting grain in the fields just northeast of Paris. He wanted to capture the diffuse sunlight shimmering through the hazy atmosphere on a hot summer day in central France.

On a diagonal path alongside an orchard of flowering apple trees, a young woman rides a donkey. Behind her walk two young lovers, their heads barely visible above the fields of new grain. The scene evokes spring, with its fragrance, bursting growth, and romance. Surprisingly, this was not a common subject for painters at the time.

Daubigny traveled extensively to paint France’s many landscapes. Here, he captures the appearance of a still pond in the hills above the Rhône Valley.

In 1857, Daubigny bought an old ferryboat and equipped it with a cabin so that he could paint the French riverbanks from the water.