Cheval et vache dans un pré

In June 1885, after weathering a six-month stint in his wife Mette’s native Copenhagen, during which his mood teetered on the brink of despair, Gauguin returned alone and penniless to Paris, leaving his five children behind in their mother’s care. ‘Impossible to stand the tempest in Denmark,’ he lamented to Pissarro (quoted in Gauguin and Impressionism, exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 2005, p. 258). By late June or early July, he had travelled to Dieppe at the invitation of an unknown host, whose identity he took care to hide from Mette—perhaps someone who had played a part in their marital conflict at Rouen the previous year. He lodged with this mysterious friend through late September, occasionally painting in the port city itself, but more often venturing into the surrounding countryside near Varengeville to find his motifs. ‘Now free of his family, Gauguin threw himself into his work and, painting successive studies of similar subjects—a very rare thing with him—he attained a quite exceptional rate of production’ (D. Wildenstein, op. cit., 2002, p. 214). Gauguin immersed himself in the surrounding landscapes of Dieppe, taking inspiration from the neighbouring foliage, farmhouses, stables and seascapes.

The present work, Cheval et vache dans un pré, painted during the artist’s time in Dieppe, evidences Gauguin’s interest in bucolic scenes that were explored during his travels in Normandy and Brittany. It was during the early years of the 1880s, however, that Gauguin made a break from the Barbizon painters who played such an influential role during his formative years as an artist. Indeed, Michael Hoog writes, ‘Gauguin now sought to free himself from the influence of such masters as Corot and Daubigny, from whom he had borrowed both a general approach and specific methods. He also had to liberate himself from the precepts contained in the artists’ manuals so prevalent at the time’ (m. Hoog, Paul Gauguin Life and Work, New York, 1987, p. 43).

This peaceful composition of a cow and horse grazing in a nearby field is both an inviting and familiar image, inspired by Gauguin’s rural sojourn. The leaves appear to rustle in the breeze via the artist’s short and undulating brushstrokes. Gauguin creates a subtle sense of symmetry in the piece, placing the eponymous ‘cheval’ and ‘vache’ facing towards a central tree trunk. The cow stares beyond the left edge of the painting, widening our lens as we imagine the continuing rolling fields in the distance and sounds of other animals nearby.

Unlike the tighter still-life compositions that he painted in the confines of his studio during this period, Gauguin’s brushwork was more spontaneous when he was liberated by plein-air painting. In the present work, Gauguin accentuates the three-dimensional quality of the equine figure with dashes of siena, umber, blue and olive. Likewise, the bovine comes alive with painterly strokes of lavender and wisps of orange. The verdant center is complimented with a dizzying array of greens, yellows, blues, reds and subtle pinks, creating a panoply synthesised by Gauguin’s masterful application of colour. The warmth of the hues and highlights emphasise the haziness of the fields in the French sunlight.

Cheval et vache dans un pré is indeed characteristic of Gauguin’s skilful and prolific production during this period, synthesising the bucolic atmosphere around him, often tinged with a terracotta palette that recalls the orange roofs of nearby stables as seen in Etable près de Dieppe II, 1885. This work therefore becomes a living entity in itself, immersing the viewer in the fresh air and tranquillity of the French countryside. Such a remarkable painting evidences the artist’s attention to detail and talented grasp of the natural world around him.