Rural Love Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884)
Jules Bastien-Lepage – Rural Love
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Painter: Jules Bastien-Lepage
Location: Pushkin State Museum, Moscow (ГМИИ им. Пушкина).
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The French artist Jules Bastien-Lepage is the foremost representative of naturalism. Being himself a native of the Lorraine peasantry, he most often depicted rural life in his paintings. As a young man, Bastien-Lepage went through the German-French war and returned home with a serious wound. Despite the illness that devoured him (the artist died of cancer at age 36), he traveled extensively, including visits to England and Algeria.
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Description of Jules Bastien Lepage’s painting "Rustic Love"
The French artist Jules Bastien-Lepage is the foremost representative of naturalism. Being himself a native of the Lorraine peasantry, he most often depicted rural life in his paintings. As a young man, Bastien-Lepage went through the German-French war and returned home with a serious wound. Despite the illness that devoured him (the artist died of cancer at age 36), he traveled extensively, including visits to England and Algeria. These trips gave new vibes to his work. Despite the short time given to him, the artist has had a great influence on European painting, and on many Russian artists too. V. Serov admitted that every Sunday he goes to the Tretyakov Gallery - to look at the exhibited there "Country love".
Bastien-Lepage worked a lot on nature. Even his portraits are most often done outdoors - the artist believed that this way the faces appear more natural and the skin tones more vivid. He skillfully and subtly conveyed the features and shades of the sky in different seasons, the shades of leaves and grass, earthy texture.
Many of his canvases depict peasant labor, but even in hard work the artist finds a kind of poetics. Being partly concrete and academic, the paintings of Bastien-Lepage nevertheless brought a fresh breath of air into the atmosphere of the Parisian Salon of Art. In most cases, the artist combined landscape and portrait on the same canvas, giving them romantic and even sentimental features; the clean and natural colors that the artist loved make many of his works look like photographs or copies from photographs.
The painting "Rustic Love" is one of the author’s most successful works. The painting depicts a couple in love - a guy and a girl. The plots of land belonging to their families appear to be located next to each other, being separated by a wooden fence. It was by this old fence that the lovers met, and now they are chatting sweetly, embarrassed and delighted by this, most likely, not entirely accidental meeting. The boy, lowering his eyes, is timidly finding a topic of conversation; the girl is shyly rubbing the flower he gave her. Her thin pigtails, her slightly slouching back covered with a gray blouse, her long brown skirt, her neat little shoes-all incredibly dignified and sweet. Apparently she has just taken off her kerchief and hung it on the hedge to make herself seem prettier to her chosen one. The young man looks shyly at his hands; he is dressed as a craftsman, his pants protected by a special apron. He leans slightly to be the same height as the girl. An idyllic picture of nature completes the scene. The dark silhouette of a church in the distance, lovingly painted peasant buildings, bright orange nasturtium flowers leaning at the feet of the lovers. Unpretentious and pleasant coloring of the work creates a sense of deep sincere feeling.
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Here we see the young man leaning against the fence, his posture conveying a mixture of nervousness and longing. His hands are clasped tightly together, drawing attention to this gesture of restrained emotion. He gazes downwards, avoiding direct eye contact with the woman seated on the fence. The artist has rendered him in simple work clothes – a loose-fitting shirt and trousers – emphasizing his connection to the land and a life of labor.
The young woman is depicted sitting formally upon the fence, her back relatively straight. She wears a plain grey dress and a checkered shawl draped over her lap. Her gaze is directed away from the man, towards something beyond the frame, creating a sense of distance or perhaps contemplation. The positioning of her body suggests a certain reserve, hinting at an internal conflict between attraction and propriety.
The background landscape contributes significantly to the overall mood. The soft light filtering through the foliage creates a hazy atmosphere, softening the edges of the buildings and blurring the details of the village beyond. This diffused lighting lends a dreamlike quality to the scene, suggesting a moment suspended in time.
Subtly, the painting explores themes of nascent love and social constraints within a rural community. The fence itself acts as a symbolic barrier between the two figures, representing not only physical separation but also the societal expectations that govern their interaction. The overgrown vegetation surrounding the fence suggests a natural world that operates outside of human control, perhaps mirroring the untamable nature of romantic feelings. The man’s averted gaze and the womans distant expression imply an awareness of these constraints, hinting at a relationship complicated by unspoken rules and potential disapproval. Ultimately, the work captures a poignant moment of quiet yearning within a context of rural tradition.