1807 -1876 · Fontainebleau and Barbizon school

Flamboyant undergrowth, pools of light and mythological figures make Narcisse Diaz de la Pena one of Barbizon's most attractive colorists.

Narcisse-Virgilio Diaz de la Pena was born in Bordeaux in 1807 to Spanish parents and died in Menton in 1876. Orphaned at a very young age, he lost a leg during childhood but pursued a career of remarkable energy. He began as a porcelain decorator before exhibiting at the Salon from 1831. His first subjects associated odalisques, nymphs and romantic scenes with a rich color nourished by Delacroix and Venetian masters. From the 1830s, the forest of Fontainebleau became his great laboratory. Diaz joined the Barbizon painters, worked near Théodore Rousseau and observed the fleeting effects of the sun between the trunks. He does not describe the forest with one topographical precision: he condenses the experience with warm shadows, deep greens and almost metallic shards. The Fontainebleau Forest opens the undergrowth like natural architecture, while Autumn: the wood pond makes the foliage vibrate around dark water. The Edge of the Wood brings glades and plant mass into tension. Even Diana, a mythological subject, preserves this sensual relationship between figure, vegetation and light. Even Diana, a mythological subject, preserves this sensual relationship between figure, vegetation and light. The Musée d'Orsay preserves several views of Fontainebleau, including a large canvas from 1868. Prolific and sought-after during her lifetime, Diaz contributes to making the forest landscape an autonomous subject based on color and atmosphere. There selection "Narcisse Diaz de la Pena" notably compares Autumn: The Wood Pond and Diana. His reading favors light.

Diaz doesn't just paint trees: he paints the light passing through them, goes out in the pond and suddenly turns a leaf or path back on.