Horses in a Meadow

Edgar Degas

Oil on canvas

National Gallery of Art

Painted in 1871 and held in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Horses in a Meadow is an intimate oil on canvas in which two horses — one dark bay, one lighter — stand peacefully on a grassy hillside overlooking a river or canal, with softly rendered buildings, boats, and distant pastures receding into a pale, pink-tinged sky. Degas's handling is loose and impressionistic, prioritizing atmosphere and the fleeting effects of light over precise detail, revealing his command of landscape as a vehicle for mood. Edgar Degas (1834–1917), a central figure of French Impressionism, was captivated throughout his career by horses as a subject, drawn to the same qualities of movement, discipline, and physical grace that he explored in his celebrated depictions of ballet dancers. This small but carefully observed work belongs to a sustained series of equestrian paintings and pastels that Degas produced from the 1860s onward, reflecting both his personal affinity for the animal and horse racing's growing prominence as a fashionable modern pastime in Second Empire and Third Republic France.