This visually compelling oil on canvas is the work of the great French painter André Brasilier, whose work blends elements of abstraction and expressionism with absolute originality. Brasilier's paintings are marked by entrancing figures, balanced color harmonies and a feeling of intimacy with the wonders of the natural world. This work, entitled L'heure où les chevaux vont boire, embodies the visual intensity of his distinctive style.

L'heure où les chevaux vont boire captures a dreamlike scene of a herd of wild horses communing by a river. The composition juxtaposes a sense of quietude with a dynamic sense of movement as the animals' solid forms rest and revive themselves by a flowing river composed of loose, emotive brushstrokes. Rendered with silhouette-like simplicity, the figures evoke a deep sense of mystery, harmony and lyricism. 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 here to the artist's highly emotional vision 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).