3-002-590 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Close of Day, 1865. Two peasant women rest leaning on their rakes as the sun sets. Breton trained in Belgium and in Paris but remained committed to his birthplace, Courrières in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France. His early paintings reflect a concern for the plight for the rural poor, but his later works tended to romanticize their existence.