Lande de la Glandee, Forest of Fontainebleau 

Théodore Rousseau's "Lande de la Glandée, Forest of Fontainebleau" is an oil painting, a medium closely tied to the history of artistic expression since the Renaissance. Here, Rousseau uses the materiality of oil paint to capture the feeling of a real place. Look at the textures he creates. The impasto in the sky, the fine strokes in the trees, the layered brushwork in the heather. He seems to have spent a considerable amount of time working ‘en plein air’, that is, outside, observing the landscape directly. The very act of painting outdoors was radical in the 19th century. It was a break from the academic tradition of composing landscapes in the studio. It was also a direct response to the rise of industrialization. Artists like Rousseau were drawn to the countryside as a refuge from the increasingly mechanized world, seeking authenticity in nature and simple, direct modes of production. "Lande de la Glandée" therefore becomes more than just a picture; it embodies a social and cultural moment, a turning point in how artists saw their relationship to the world.