Oaks, heath and still water
Théodore Rousseau
Théodore Rousseau in the French countryside, much of it in and around the forest of Fontainebleau, from the 1840s to the 1860s. Bare trees going dark against a winter sunset, a pond under a heavy sky, a small boat on a slow river, a red evening over the rocks near Arbonne, a great oak at the edge of the woods at Monts-Girard, and a young birch catching the sun on an early summer morning. Every tree has its own shape, like a face in a crowd.
As a puzzle
Slow, and best on a quiet evening. These are dark pictures, brown and olive with the light held back, and the winter forest is nearly all shadow. The skies are your friend here: start from the clouds and the bright gaps, then the water, then the outline of the trees against them. Keep the count low, and save the summer morning with its pale birch for an easier night.
A good size here: 40–150 pieces.
Also filed under Barbizon School
Subjects here: LandscapesRivers and LakesNightWinter
7 pictures, pick one to build
