The smokestacks in the distance of Landscape with Smokestacks, where the black smoke is a counterpoint to the natural loveliness of the scene, the nature itself is a bit fantasized, with even some of the trees in the field being represented with the fuzzy, smoke-like quality of smokestacks. Art Institute of Chicaco Click on picture to magnify. Landscape with Smokestacks by Edgar Degas, 1890. While Field of Flax seems to be just one of Degas imagined scenes of nature, perhaps based on a memory or a dream(?), he was also able to capture in his painting one of the concerns of the day, the rapid encrouchment of industrialization. Field of Flax by Edgar Degas, 1891-92 Private Collection. Except for the bright spots of yellow in the foreground, the field of flax is the superstar in this painting, almost inviting the viewer to go lie down on this colorful natural blanket. He refused to let nature dictate what was represented in his paintings, saying, “A painting is first of all the product of the imagination of the artist.” That statement allows the viewer to understand the difference in the conception of color and the artificial quality seen in Degas’ landscapes when compared to those of his Impressionist contemporaries.įor instance, in the painting below, Field of Flax (1891-1892), it is rather unlikely that such a neat, lovely, violet and pink square of flax, would appear laid out like a carpet amid the other dull patches of perhaps cultivated fields in this hilly forest-like landscape. It was a break with the old school’s classically formatted, huge paintings of notable figures and stories from history, ancient mythology, and the Bible. Probably the best place to start is with a comment made about the artist by one of his longest lasting friends (and he did not have too many), Camille Pissarro, who said of Degas, “He is an anarchist, but in art.” Impressionism was all about a certain type of art anarchy. And yet, Degas created some of the most beautiful landscapes of the Impressionist period. Of course, this does not mention the fact that it was so much easier to go off to that favorite haunt of Manet’s crowd, the Café Guerbois, have a smoke, some wine, and talk about what they were creating. Staying inside where they could adjust the light, have all their equipment about them and be undisturbed by blowing winds, crashing waves, and the occasional insect, was just more civilized. As he once firmly put it, “Painting is not a sport!” Degas and his close colleague, Edouard Manet, were studio painters. Well, they were just not in Degas’ mode of thinking. Houses by the Sea by Edgar Degas, 1869 Click on picture to magnify.Įdgar Degas (1833-1917), according to many of his own words, was decidedly not one of those “plein air landscape painters.” You know the ones, Monet, Pissarro, Sisley, who ran about outside to capture the changing moods of the light on the river or the ocean (possibly being nearly swept away as Monet once was) or standing about in the snow to look at the colored reflections on the ice.
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