Julien Dupré
1851-1910 | FRENCH
Haymaking
Do you know whose work has made a deep impression on me? [...] Juilen Dupré. They seemed to me outstanding, very energetic and very true to life.
– Vincent van Gogh, 1882
OVERVIEW
Julien Dupré's luminous canvases transported his viewers from the chaotic streets of the rapidly modernizing Paris to the peaceful French countryside. Dupré's vision was so compelling and his talent so great that he was the leading voice of Realist painting for his generation. Please see photos of his monumental masterwork, Haymaking, which perfectly captures the artist's signature subject—the heroic dignity of rural laborers—at an extraordinary scale.
Standing over 6 1/2 feet high, Haymaking is one of the largest paintings the artist ever made. The monumental scale invites the viewer to step into the field where the workers gather hay, with the sun bathing the composition in a glowing warmth. One can almost feel the atmosphere, an exceptional quality that earned Dupré his international reputation. Vincent van Gogh himself admired Dupré’s outstanding talent, calling his work in the 1881 Paris Salon “very energetic and very true to life.” Like van Gogh, Dupré rejected the convention of painting urban subjects, choosing instead to capture the dignity and authenticity of agrarian life.
Dupré exhibited his first work at the Paris Salon in 1876, and he would show there every year until his death in 1910. By the early 1880s, Dupré was an international success—he sold his work through the most important galleries worldwide, including Knoedler Gallery in New York and Goupil & Cie in Paris, managed at the time by Vincent’s brother Theo van Gogh. He was also selected for the most prestigious international exhibitions, winning a Medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, attended by an incredible 32 million people. Haymaking,
with its immense scale and radiant palette, certainly would have made a statement when it was exhibited in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Institute’s 12th Annual Exhibition in 1908.
In 1892, Dupré was awarded the highest civilian honor in France when he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor. Today, very few of his monumental works like Haymaking ever appear on the market, and even his works in prestigious museum collections— including the Musée d’Orsay and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston—do not come close to the scale and beauty of this work.
Private Collection, France
M.S. Rau, New Orleans
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Institute, 12th Annual Exhibition, April 13 - June 13, 1908, no. 85, as The Meadows
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Institute, 12th Annual Exhibition, April 13 - June 13, 1908, no. 85, as The Meadows
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Institute, 12th Annual Exhibition, April 13 - June 13, 1908, no. 85, as The Meadows
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Institute, 12th Annual Exhibition, April 13 - June 13, 1908, no. 85, as The Meadows
AUCTION COMPARABLES
Julien Dupré LE REGAIN (THE SECOND CROP)
il ca va
Height 100 x Width 127 5 c
Height 39 37 x Width 50 197 i
Julien Dupré
Au retour de la moisson
il ca va
Height 92.8 x Width 129.5 c .
Height 36 535 x Width 50 984 i
1880
Julien Dupré Haymakers (Faneurs et Faneuses)
il ca va , laid d w a ite
Height 69 5 x Width 85 4 c
Height 27 362 x Width 33 622 i
1880
Julien Dupré
Returning to the farm
il ca va
Height 123 2 x Width 149 9 c
Height 48 504 x Width 59 016 i 1895
Julien Dupré
LA RECOLTE DES FOINS
il ca va
Height 134 9 x Width 229 9 c
Height 53 11 x Width 90 512 i
1881
P ice Databa e
26 May 1994 almost 31 years ago
S theby New Y k
��TH CENTURY EUROPEAN PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURE – [Lot 00036]
e t 300,000 500,000 USD
23 April 2003 almost 22 years ago
Ch i tie New Y k
19th Century European Art including Barbizon, Realist and French Landscape Paintings – [Lot 00047]
e t 180,000 250,000 USD
↑ 6% e t
05 February 2025 about 1 month ago
S theby New Y k
19th Century European Art – [Lot 00142]
t 30,000 50,000
07 May 1998 almost 27 years ago
S theby New Y k
Barbizon, Realist and French Landscape Paintings – [Lot 00162] e t
22 May 1991 almost 34 years ago
S theby New Y k
��TH CENTURY EUROPEAN PAINTINGS, DRAWING AND SCULPTURE – [Lot 00011]
e t 100,000 150,000 USD
USD ↑ 39% e t
MUSEUM COMPARABLES
Julien Dupré | Les Faucheurs de luzerne
1880
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 465/8 x 591/4 inches | 118.5 x 150.5 cm
Musée d'Orsay Paris, France
Julien Dupré | La Vache échappée
1885
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 393/8 x 541/4 inches | 100 x 139 cm
Musée d'Orsay Paris, France
Julian Dupré | Haymaking
1892
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 32 x 251/2 inches | 81.3 x 64.8 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Boston, MA, United States
Julien Dupré | Haying Scene 1884
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 485/8 x 591/2 inches | 123.5 x 151.1 cm
Louis Art Museum
St. Louis, MO, United States
St.
Julien Dupré | The Haymakers
1886
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 311/8 x 251/4 inches | 79.1 x 64.1 cm
Worcester
Worcester, MA, United States
The
Art Museum
