Aimons toujours, aimons encore

Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret was a leading French Naturalist painter whose subjects ranged from Breton peasant life to Symbolist religious imagery. 'Aimons toujours, aimons encore' ('Let us love always, let us love again,' from Lamartine, 1886) takes its title from the Romantic poet's meditation on enduring love, framing the painted subject within a literary-romantic context typical of the bourgeois salon market Dagnan-Bouveret successfully supplied. His mastery of observed rural character and technically accomplished painting — he was among the most skilled in France — gave his Naturalist subjects wide appeal.

Dagnan-Bouveret's handling combines Naturalist observation of outdoor light with careful compositional organization — his figures placed within landscapes rendered with plein air sensitivity. His technical mastery is evident in the modeling of faces and figures, and his photography-informed observation gives his subjects a quality of caught-moment truth. The painting's literary title directs the viewer to an emotional rather than purely descriptive reading.