Sluice in the Optevoz Valley 1854

Charles François Daubigny painted Sluice in the Optevoz Valley using oil on canvas sometime in the mid-19th century. His paintings are often associated with the Barbizon school of French landscape painting, but it is important to view Daubigny’s landscape in the context of mid-19th century France. At the time, landscape painting had become extremely popular in France. While earlier landscape painters often worked in the studio, Daubigny was known for painting en plein air, that is, outside. You can see here in his painting how he captures an unidealized view of the French countryside, imbuing the scene with an honest and authentic portrayal of the ordinary world around him. Landscape painting has a way of making the world seem natural, but as historians, we can investigate the cultural values attached to this vision. What did it mean to capture the French countryside at this particular moment in time? What social and cultural conditions made this subject matter so attractive? These are the kinds of questions we can ask to better understand the image.