At the Races in the Countryside

This painting was one of the first works that Degas sold (in 1872) to Paul Durand-Ruel, the dealer who became the early champion of the Impressionists. It is not only a landscape but also a scene from everyday life and - most of all - a family portrait. The driver of the carriage is Degas's friend Paul Valpinçon, who is shown with his wife, a wet nurse, and in the nurse's lap, the couple's son, Henri.