River landscape 1840 - 1878

Charles-François Daubigny painted this river landscape using oil on canvas. The composition is dominated by a wide, horizontal expanse of water reflecting a sky heavy with grey clouds. Daubigny skillfully uses a restricted palette, favouring muted greens and greys, which creates a somber, almost melancholic mood. Consider how Daubigny disrupts traditional landscape painting. Instead of a clear, panoramic view, we are presented with a flattened perspective, emphasized by the broad horizontal lines of the river and horizon. The brushstrokes are loose and expressive, dissolving the details of the landscape into textured masses of color. This shift towards abstraction anticipates later developments in Impressionism. By focusing on the atmospheric effects and the materiality of paint, Daubigny challenges the conventional idea of landscape as a picturesque scene. He invites us to contemplate the painting's surface and the subjective experience of the natural world. In this way, Daubigny's river landscape becomes a site for exploring perception and representation.