Normandie 

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes made this drawing, titled "Normandie," in France in the late nineteenth century. In it, we see a woman in classical dress seated in a rural landscape. Puvis de Chavannes was interested in the ways that art could express national identity. This drawing is a study for a larger decorative painting celebrating the region of Normandy in northern France. During the nineteenth century, France was undergoing rapid modernization. Many artists turned to the French countryside, and especially its peasant culture, as a source of authentic national values, uncontaminated by the modern city. Puvis de Chavannes often drew on classical imagery to ennoble his figures and give them a timeless quality. At the same time, it’s important to note that this celebration of regional identity often came at the expense of the rural poor, whose way of life was idealized, even as they were denied a voice in the nation's political life. Art historians explore how such dynamics play out through close readings of both the artwork and its socio-political context.