1873
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The Oak Tree and the Reed is a 1873 by Charles François Daubigny, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a dramatic scene of a fallen oak tree, with a reed bending in the wind nearby. The painting tells a story from a 17th-century fable, where the oak tree is punished for looking down on the reed. The artist used bold contrasts of light and dark to show the power of nature. This painting's use of strong contrasts is an example of the technique of chiaroscuro.
The Oak Tree and the Reed illustrates the fable of the same name by the 17th-century French writer Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695). Having disdainfully pitied the reed for bending before the wind, the oak is shown torn from the earth by a terrific north wind. Focusing upon the uprooted oak, Daubigny created a violently expressive treatment of the subject. The bold dappling of lights and darks below is set off by the intense blue of the clouds encroaching upon the land from the left. The diagonal streaks of thin-ly applied gray wash above suggest driving rain.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Charles-François Daubigny ( DOH-bin-yee, US: DOH-been-YEE, doh-BEEN-yee, French: ; 15 February 1817 – 19 February 1878) was a French painter, one of the members of the Barbizon school, and is considered an important precursor of impressionism.
See the richer artist page
