Women and children gathering flowers 

Jules Chéret’s "Women and children gathering flowers" presents a whirlwind of pastel hues, where forms emerge from a vibrant sea of color, offering a joyful, almost dreamlike visual experience. The composition, though seemingly spontaneous, reveals a careful arrangement of figures and floral elements. Chéret’s use of pastel destabilizes traditional artistic hierarchies. The medium, often associated with preliminary sketches, here takes center stage, challenging notions of the finished versus the unfinished, the formal versus the informal. The visible strokes and textures highlight the materiality of the pastel, drawing attention to the process of creation itself. The dissolution of clear boundaries between figures and background engages with late 19th-century debates around perception, representation and symbolism. Note the seemingly effortless manner in which the figures blend with their surroundings. This technique underscores the formal quality of the work, emphasizing the dissolution of boundaries and the interplay between form and color, inviting us to question our fixed understandings of space and representation.