The Poplars - The Couture 

Henri Martin painted "The Poplars - The Couture" in France, using an oil-on-canvas technique that aligns with the Post-Impressionist movement. The painting depicts a pastoral scene, a world that was under threat from industrial progress and urbanization during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Martin's distinctive pointillist technique, evident in the small dabs of colour, adds a sense of vibrancy to the landscape, a style also influenced by the Neo-Impressionist movement. This was a deliberate choice to represent the cultural ideals of rural life and natural beauty, against the backdrop of rapid social change in France. To fully understand Martin’s artistic choices, we might delve into the cultural debates about modernism and tradition in France at that time, or investigate the institutional contexts in which Martin exhibited and gained recognition for his work. We might examine the cultural values of the French Third Republic, and the place of rural life in the national identity.