Combining elements of both abstraction and expressionism with dynamic brushwork and pulsating color, this intriguing oil on canvas is the work of the famed French painter André Brasilier. Brasilier’s paintings contain a unique blend of entrancing figures, balanced color harmonies and a feeling of intimate communication with the natural world, and this work, entitled Les peupliers bleus, embodies the mysticism and compelling visual language of his distinctive style.

In this painting, Brasilier converts the familiar imagery of a horse grazing in a forest into something ephemeral and dreamlike. Despite the composition’s simplicity, it is brought to life with Brasilier’s loose, emotive brushstrokes and energetic color palette that reveal his expressionist influences. Rendered with a punch of orange and dwarfed against the trees, the figure of the horse evokes a profound sense of mystery, isolation and lyricism. The linear blue and white brushstrokes of the trees create a stillness across the canvas that sits in direct contrast to the warm, vibrating color of the horse and setting sun. Horses are a frequent motif in Brasilier’s artworks. He has described them as "a superb creation... charged with symbolism, strength, dynamism and beauty," qualities that lend themselves well to the artist’s expressive, emotional depictions of nature.

Born to two accomplished artists, Brasilier was naturally drawn to painting, and at the age of 20, he moved to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. Brasilier has received several prestigious awards, including the 1952 Prix Florence Blumenthal and the 1953 Prix de Rome. He is also one of only two artists (the other being Pablo Picasso) honored with a retrospective at Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum during their lifetime. He has exhibited works alongside legends such as Picasso, Braque, Chagall and Miro, and he is represented in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York).