Cows in a Pasture, Deauville c. 1885 - 1890

Editor: Here we have Eugène Boudin’s "Cows in a Pasture, Deauville,". It’s a fairly simple painting, cows resting in a field. How should we interpret this very pastoral scene? Curator: Consider the socio-economic shifts of 19th-century France. As urban centers grew, paintings of rural life often idealized a disappearing world, masking the realities of agricultural labor. How does Boudin's portrayal engage with or perhaps even subvert these romanticized views? Editor: That's a different way to look at it; it's not *just* cows. It makes me wonder what Boudin really thought about rural life. Curator: Exactly. By questioning the idyllic, we can uncover deeper meanings about the complex relationship between humans, nature, and societal progress.