The Haystack

In 1935, Georgette Chen undertook a 4-month painting trip to Provence from 12 July to 10 October where she painted approximately 30 works. She was accompanied by her husband Eugene Chen, her former Académie Colarossi teacher Charles Picart Le Doux, and his wife. The following year in 1936, Chen staged her first solo exhibition at the Galerie Barreiro in Paris, exhibiting 42 artworks, featuring many from the painting trip to Provence. The Haystack was likely painted during this trip, and also likely to have been included in her solo exhibition. The work encapsulates Chen’s experience touring locations where eminent modern artists such as Van Gogh and Paul Cézanne also painted. Chen utilises the verticality of a tree in the composition to create visual interest across both horizontal and vertical planes. The painting’s focal point of a farmer explores the relationship of his labour to the land. The painting’s warm palette, applied with carefully modulated strokes expressing the subjectivity of impressionism within a neatly ordered composition is a distinctive feature of Chen’s works from the period.