Horses near the fence.

Horses standing near a fence in a Dutch pasture may seem an ordinary subject, but Mauve's sustained engagement with such scenes transformed them into essays in light, color, and animal presence. Painted in 1878, this canvas belongs to a productive period when Mauve was establishing his mature Hague School style. He was a skilled observer of horses, having grown up in a Netherlands where draft and working horses were ubiquitous in farming and transport. The fence itself functions as a compositional device, its horizontal rails providing structure against which the organic forms of the horses are silhouetted or partially framed. Vincent van Gogh, under Mauve's guidance around 1881-82, was directed to make repeated studies of animals precisely because Mauve believed the ability to render living forms required sustained direct observation. This work exemplifies the standards Mauve set for that practice.

The horses are modeled with a combination of broader tonal passages for the body mass and shorter marks for the head and legs. Mauve avoided overworking the surface — each section retains freshness. The fence rails are handled simply, their regularity providing visual counterpoint to the organic forms of the animals. Light falls softly from the side, separating form from ground.