The chestnut tree
Ca. 1918. Oil on canvas.Not on display
This work produces an evocation of Realism with hints of Romanticism. On the one hand, the subject is real. A shepherdess with sheep passes by a chestnut tree. There is nothing symbolic or allegorical about this action. It merely depicts a human activity amid a fairly domesticated nature. But on the other hand, the orange light of the setting sun which covers the painting gives it a lyrical and picturesque note of romantic heritage. The composition and finish are too precise in execution to simply be considered painted from life. Thus, a very low ground line is counteracted by the strong vertical lines of two chestnut trees whose leaves, drawn with true botanical precision, fill most of the surface of the canvas. The work is a true display of pictorial technique, with its excellent simplification and selection of tones and its coherently organised colours, an aesthetic which the Impressionists would inherit but go on to reject, overturning the tradition of good academic painting, and opening the doors to the gates to the 20th century.
Magariños, Antonio, Las Raices de Todas las Cosas. Exposicion con Motivo del Dia Mundial del Medio Ambiente, Madrid, Ministerio de Obras Publicas, 1989, p.90
