The Well Driller (Le Foreur)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

In the mid-1870s, Cézanne briefly turned his attention to the depiction of laborers. These small canvases bear a lightness and freedom of expression that reflect Cézanne's practice of painting out of doors and his desire to escape the frenetic pace of life in Paris. Here, his choice of subject may have been informed by artists he admired such as Thomas Couture, who declared in 1867 that "Our workmen have not been represented; they remain yet to be put on canvas." Indeed, mid-19th-century artists often chose to depict the common laborer and rural poverty, in defiance of the French upper class, who considered such themes to be politically subversive.

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