Charles-François Daubigny
Charles-François Daubigny was a French artist who lived from 1817 to 1878. He is most known for his association with the Barbizon school of art, a style tending toward realism that developed in response to the Romanticism style that had been prevalent for decades.
Daubigny was born in Paris in 1817. He was first taught how to paint by his father and uncle. His father was Edmé-François Daubigny, a landscape artist who exhibited at the Paris Salon, and his uncle was Pierre Daubigny, a well-respected miniaturist artist. In 1835, he began studying under Pierre-Asthasie-Theodore Sentiès, an academic painter.
In 1836, Daubigny and a fellow artist traveled to Italy. Instead of visiting the great worlds of art, as most artists who traveled to Italy did, they spent months traveling in the countryside. They immersed themselves in the beauty and nature of the area, known for its golden light. Upon his return, he decided to focus his art on historical landscapes. Daubigny’s earlier works were more traditional and academic in style. In 1843, after moving to Barbizon to paint outside in nature, his style changed. He built an art studio on a boat and sailed along the Oise and Seine Rivers. Bezons is a suburb of Paris, located just 7 miles northwest of Paris’s city center. It sits on the banks of the Seine.
His style evolved again in 1852 after meeting Camille Corot. That same year, Daubigny also met fellow realism artist, Gustave Courbet. The two respected and influenced each other’s work. In 1870, Daubigny met Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne. It is believed by many art historians that he was a heavy influence on the beginnings of the Impressionist art movement. Daubigny was an avid supporter of the Impressionists movement from the very beginning. This was meaningful at the time, as most art traditionalists were avidly against Impressionism and anything other than the status quo. Van Gogh was also heavily influenced by Daubigny.
Daubigny painted mostly landscapes with water and boats. It is said that if he liked his painting, he would add ducks to it. So, in theory, you can tell how much he liked each piece by how many ducks there are. Daubigny was always trying to evolve his style and was very supportive of modern methods. Well into his career, he learned to make two distinct types of paintings; ones that were sellable and ones that pursued techniques and styles that were modern and nontraditional. His favorite paintings were often not appreciated the way he wanted them to be. He is known to have said “The best pictures do not sell”.
Charles-François Daubigny died in Paris in 1878 at just 61 years of age.
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