Cour de ferme

This 1910 farmyard scene belongs to the series of outdoor subjects Vallotton produced during summer stays in the French countryside, particularly around Romanel-sur-Lausanne and in Normandy. The farmyard occupied a specific position in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century French painting as a symbol of rural continuity, seasonal labour, and the pre-industrial life that urban artists sought in the countryside. Vallotton's approach to the farmyard is, predictably, stripped of Romantic sentiment: the chickens, the farm buildings, the yard surface are described with the same cool, organising intelligence he brought to the female nude and the kitchen vegetable. His commitment to flat, simplified forms and clear tonal organisation transforms even the accidental arrangements of a working farm into something composed and slightly artificial. The undated work draws on the tradition of Norman and Breton farmyard painting while remaining entirely characteristic of Vallotton's personal vision.

Oil on canvas with Vallotton's characteristic simplified colour organisation. The farmyard provides a range of warm earthy tones — straw yellows, brown earth, ochre hay — that Vallotton organises into flat, clearly bounded colour areas. Any poultry present are described with the schematic but accurate observation of form that characterises his animal subjects. Building and yard surfaces receive the same hard-edged treatment as all other elements.