Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

"Of the dozen landscapes that Degas executed in oil or pastel during sojourns at Saint-Valry-sur-Somme with his friend [and fellow artist] Louis Braquaval in 1895-1898, this one is unique in showing the open fields outside the town, rather than the town itself. In its heavily impastoed surface, it is similar to A Saint-Valry-sur-Somme (Lemoisne, no. 1215) and Entre de village (Lemoisne, no. 1216)" (P. Brame and T. Reff, op. cit., p. 167).