Sunset on the River

This sunset river scene from 1874, painted near the end of Daubigny's life, shows him at his most Impressionist. The sky blazes with orange and gold reflected in the calm water, while the trees along the bank are reduced to silhouettes against the light. The brushwork is looser than in his earlier work, the color more intense, and the composition more daring — much of the canvas is given over to sky and water, with land reduced to a thin horizontal band. This is Daubigny responding to the Impressionist revolution he had helped to launch, absorbing its lessons into his own practice.

Sunset on the River from 1874 is in direct dialogue with Monet's Impression, Sunrise (1872). Daubigny had been one of Monet's earliest champions, convincing the dealer Durand-Ruel to buy the younger artist's work. This painting shows that the influence flowed both ways: Daubigny, approaching seventy, was learning from the generation he had inspired.

This late sunset is Daubigny's tribute to Impressionism and his proof that the Barbizon tradition could evolve. The old master was still learning, still pushing, still painting the Oise as if seeing it for the first time.