Landscape in the Rain 1928

Josef Capek created this painting, Landscape in the Rain, with oil on canvas in Czechoslovakia. The work has a childlike aesthetic, with primitive forms and an emphasis on the texture of the paint. It could be said that it is a comment on the increasing urbanization and industrialization of early 20th-century Europe, one that contrasts the chaotic modern city with an idealized, romanticized vision of rural life. The rooftops suggest a village, a small town perhaps, and are depicted during rainfall. Capek worked as an editor for several Czech newspapers and journals. His experience in those roles is relevant to the art historian seeking to contextualize his artworks, in that it gave him a unique perspective on the social and political issues of his time. He was arrested for his beliefs during the Nazi occupation and died in a concentration camp near the end of World War II.