Paul Gauguin

In early summer of 1883, Paul Gauguin joined Camille Pissarro to paint in the farming village of Osny. Here Gauguin emulates Pissarro’s small, dense strokes (see Farm and Mill at Osny) but rejects his mentor’s orderliness, instead experimenting with patches of disorganized marks whose colors sometimes wander from traditional harmonies. The seemingly random heightening of greens, reds, and purples in the foreground hints at his growing rebellion against realist expectations. Gauguin also skews the motif of the farm here, making it uncomfortably featureless and off-balance, anticipating his eventual rejection of the landscape motifs favored by many Impressionists.