Park met bomen en een vijver 1892 - 1893

Charles-Marie Dulac, a French Symbolist painter, created this print called 'Park with Trees and a Pond' using lithography. Dulac's work emerged from a period of social upheaval in France, marked by rapid industrialization. The choice of a park landscape is interesting, especially as public parks were often promoted as spaces for social reform and refuge from the urban chaos, yet, access to these 'public' spaces were often governed by unspoken rules of class and propriety. Dulac’s soft rendering, with its almost monochromatic sepia tones, produces a dream-like timelessness that almost erases the modern world. But if you look closely, a couple sits in the background, reminding us that these spaces were sites of social interaction and perhaps even transgression. Dulac's work invites us to reflect on the ways in which nature and leisure are framed and experienced, reflecting both a yearning for tranquility and an acknowledgement of the social dynamics that permeate even the most serene settings.