At the Races in the Countryside by Degas

This famous oil painting on canvas by the realist artist Degas Edgar captures a charming moment of bourgeois leisure under the temporary title “At the Races in the Countryside”. Combining landscape art with a modern genre scene, this superb work fits fully into impressionism through its bold framing inspired by photography and Japanese prints. The artist immortalizes here a very elegant family on a Sunday outing.

A dark four-wheeled carriage, harnessed to two bay horses with shiny coats, occupies the right foreground of the composition. On board, a high society couple is seated with their infant protected by a pale yellow parasol that diffuses a soft and protective light. The father, wearing a black top hat, turns to his wife while a small black dog sits near them on the bench. In the background, a vast green meadow stretches as far as the eye can see under an immense sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. Other riders and carriages sketched in the distance complete this sunny atmosphere.

Degas Edgar proves his immense expertise through this asymmetrical and innovative layout that crops the horses on the right edge. His mastery of light reflections on the horses’ coats and the carriage fabrics reinforces the striking and modern realism of the work.