An attractive, fashionable young couple enjoys a day at the races in this painting by Jean-Gabriel Domergue. Entitled Le couple aux courses, the vibrantly hued oil is a perfect example of the portraits for which the artist is renowned. His model embodies the concept of the la belle Parisienne: slender, swan-like women bearing an unmistakable grace and style. His innovative take on the female form prompted Domergue to profess, "I invented the pin-up." The artist's oeuvre encompasses women from all facets of society, from aristocratic figures such as Liane de Pougy and Nadine, Baroness de Rothschild, to sensuous nudes, actresses and dancers who were the height of French fashion and fascination.

Born in Bordeaux in 1889, Domergue studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He was only 17 years old when he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français for the first time, winning the Prix du Rome in 1911 and a gold medal in 1920. While landscapes dominated his early oeuvre, from the 1920s he changed his focus to what would become his trademark subject, la belle Parisienne. Domergue's works captured the joie de vivre that permeated post-WWI Paris.