Provenance
Gérard, Paris. Possibly Félix Vallotton [1865-1925], Lausanne.[1] Alexandre Bernheim-Jeune [d. 1915], Paris. (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris); sold 9 June 1926 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.
[1] In a note dated 6 October 1966 (in NGA curatorial files), Paul Vallotton, the nephew of Félix, recalls that his uncle owned the painting before it was acquired by Bernheim-Jeune.
Accession Number
1963.10.116
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 51.4 x 81.3 cm (20 1/4 x 32 in.) | framed: 79.7 x 109.5 cm (31 3/8 x 43 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Chester Dale Collection
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Canvas French
Background & Context
Background Story
The Farm is an early Daubigny canvas that shows him establishing the themes and methods that would define his career. The subject — a farmstead nestled in the French countryside — is treated without romanticization: the buildings are solid and functional, the surrounding landscape is flat and agricultural, and the sky is a typical northern French mix of cloud and blue. Daubigny's refusal to make his farm picturesque is itself a statement. Where previous generations of landscape painters had sought out the sublime and the beautiful, Daubigny found artistic significance in the ordinary.
Cultural Impact
Painted in 1855, when the Barbizon group was at its most influential, The Farm represents the quiet wing of the movement. Daubigny was less interested than Rousseau or Millet in making grand statements about nature or peasant life. His approach was closer to Corot: observe carefully, paint honestly, and let the subject speak for itself. This modesty of intention produced a body of work that was deeply influential on the Impressionists precisely because it refused to dramatize.
Why It Matters
The Farm is Daubigny's aesthetic in miniature: find the most ordinary subject possible, then paint it with such attentive truth that it becomes extraordinary. This reversal — beauty arising from truth rather than truth being decorated with beauty — is the core of modern landscape painting.
