Lot 75: The flower pickers

César Pattein (French, 1850-1931)
The flower pickers
signed and dated 'César Pattein.1905' (lower left)
oil on canvas
20¾ x 25 in.(52.6 x 63.4 cm.)

From time to time, Christie's may offer a lot which it owns in whole or in part. This is such a lot.
Responding to the process of industrialization that affected France in the nineteenth century, César Pattein focused his attention on depicting peasant life, highlighting the values of hard-work and family unity, thought to be threatened by modernity. In the present work, Pattein depicts the pleasantness of peasant life and the amiable relationship between the young woman and three girls who are picking flowers. The sensitivity with which the artist has depicted the figures, their gestures and the natural world around them, evokes a sense of freshness and happiness, while simultaneously preserving on canvas a way of life that was quickly disappearing.
Between 1883 and 1884 Pattein joined the studio of the celebrated artist Jules Breton, who influenced his carrer greatly. Very often Pattein would execute his landscapes en plein air and paint the figures when he returned to his studio. These scenes earned him great recognition in the French Salons and increased his popularity with the general public.