Sunny Days in the Forest

Two women gather sticks by a watery clearing in front of a group of trees. The trees are arranged in an arc, with the most prominent left of centre and the others set back on each side. The composition, which shows the influence of Théodore Rousseau, is typical of those used by Diaz in his views of the forest of Fontainebleau. The women, one in a white blouse and cap and red shawl, provide a decorative element, rather in the manner of Corot’s figures, adding a note of colour to the pervading green of the landscape.

The whole has many thick layers of paint, which may be because Diaz was emulating such Dutch seventeenth-century landscapists as Ruisdael. The trees are built up from dark to light, giving depth and three-dimensionality. The foliage is picked out with numerous touches of light paint, which gives an effect of dancing light.

Text: © The National Gallery, London

Painting photographed in its frame by Google Arts & Culture, 2023.