A Beautiful Oil on Canvas Painting Of the Wheat Harvest by Henri Gaston Darien.
Born in Paris in 1864, Henri Gaston DARIEN signed his paintings with the pseudonym DARIEN, an anagram of his real name Adrien.
A student of Jules Lefebvre and Antoine Guillemet, he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1886 onwards and was awarded several prizes at successive exhibitions, including a bronze medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition.
He worked during the winter in Paris, painting Parisian life, and during the summer in Normandy, where he owned a house in Bénouville near Étretat.
He was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1910 and died in 1926 in Paris.
His works are present in several French and European museums.
Our painting illustrates a scene of country life in Normandy, where a young boy, looking out to sea, is picking up freshly mown wheat.
With his eye lost on the horizon, the artist has skillfully used his model to give us the line of flight, guiding our own view of the painting.
The main subject remains the imposing sheaf of wheat in the center of the painting,
A Post-Impressionist artist, Darien delivers here a perfect example of his talent.
Playing with the stormy atmosphere to create an effect of depth with the clouds gathering on the foliage of the trees in the distance, the main sheaf of wheat tilted to the right, everything pushes the eye towards the sea, barely sketched, but bewitching.
The Frame measures 18 1/4 ” x 23 1/4″
The Canvas measures 13″ x 18 1/4″