Sunset near Villerville

Sunset near Villerville (1876) by Charles-François Daubigny, now in the collection of The Mesdag Collection, exploits the dramatic lighting conditions of a specific time of day, a subject that became increasingly central to Impressionist and Tonalist painters' investigation of atmospheric light. Charles-François Daubigny was the Barbizon painter most directly linked to Impressionism, working on his famous studio boat — the Botin — to capture the rivers of the Île-de-France under changing atmospheric conditions with an informality and speed that his academic contemporaries found unfinished but that Monet and Pissarro recognized as revelatory.

Daubigny painted with broad, summary strokes applied quickly to capture changing light and water effects. His palette is cool and fresh — blue-greens, silver grays, pale skies — with an informality of touch that the academic establishment criticized as sketchy but that directly inspired the Impress.