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The Oak Tree and the Reed
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The Oak Tree and the Reed illustrates the fable of the same name by the 17th-century French writer Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695). Having disdainfully pitied the reed for bending before the wind, the oak is shown torn from the earth by a terrific north wind. Focusing upon the uprooted oak, Daubigny created a violently expressive treatment of the subject. The bold dappling of lights and darks below is set off by the intense blue of the clouds encroaching upon the land from the left. The diagonal streaks of thin-ly applied gray wash above suggest driving rain.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Oak Tree and the Reed, c. 1873. Charles François Daubigny (French, 1817–1878). Blue, gray, and black wash, and graphite; sheet: 29.3 x 23 cm (11 9/16 x 9 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin, 2008.357
