
Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
by Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin made this In the Forest Saint-Cloud II in 1873, a companion piece to his other forest study from that year. This oil on canvas measures 24 x 34 cm and is classified as a landscape painting rather than a sketch. The work shows a more developed composition than its counterpart, with careful attention to the arrangement of trees and the play of light through foliage.
At this point, Gauguin was immersed in Impressionism. He collected works by Manet, Monet, and Pissarro, who would later become his mentor. The forests around Paris provided ideal subjects for studying light and atmosphere outdoors. This painting captures the dappled green light filtering through leaves.
Gauguin wouldn't leave his banking career until nearly a decade later. These early landscapes hint at talent, but nothing yet suggests the radical stylistic departures to come. The painting remains in a private collection.
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