Artworks
Camponesa Bretã [Breton Peasant]
painting
Date
s.d.
Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
116,5 x 81,5 cm
Born in the Azores, Sousa Pinto will spend more than half his life in France. His studies in Paris, to where he moved with a scholarship after studying at the Academy of Fine Arts of Porto, provided him the means to develop an aesthetic that owes its realism to painters such as Millet and Courbet. However, he also owes his approach to light to the Impressionists. The works he created while in Brittany, a region that fascinated him and where he would live until the end of his life, expressly evoke such influences. We can acknowledge them in the attention he pays to rural themes, as is the case of this - Breton peasant
.
The naturalistic representation of the peasant woman contrasts with the diffuse and expressive depiction of the field in which she finds herself, almost transforming the background, particularly the further background, into a pictorial pretext in which light is the main protagonist, shaping the space. The vibrant use of colour reinforces this importance of light, as it crosses the damp cold air.
The attention to detail, as in the depiction of flowers, painting them as bright dots, resonates his attention to the representation of nature in traditional Central Europe schools of painting. Yet, Sousa Pinto modernizes it, in his fast and synthetic brushstrokes that suggest (not emulate) shapes. The white and yellow of the flowers over the intense green or warm brown of the branches create a powerful impact.
Witnessing a moment of introspective pause in a working day, this woman's expression is, however, not revealed in full. By stressing her intimacy, the author invites the observer to address his work in contemplative silence, providing us a sense of attachment.
EF
.
The naturalistic representation of the peasant woman contrasts with the diffuse and expressive depiction of the field in which she finds herself, almost transforming the background, particularly the further background, into a pictorial pretext in which light is the main protagonist, shaping the space. The vibrant use of colour reinforces this importance of light, as it crosses the damp cold air.
The attention to detail, as in the depiction of flowers, painting them as bright dots, resonates his attention to the representation of nature in traditional Central Europe schools of painting. Yet, Sousa Pinto modernizes it, in his fast and synthetic brushstrokes that suggest (not emulate) shapes. The white and yellow of the flowers over the intense green or warm brown of the branches create a powerful impact.
Witnessing a moment of introspective pause in a working day, this woman's expression is, however, not revealed in full. By stressing her intimacy, the author invites the observer to address his work in contemplative silence, providing us a sense of attachment.
EF