Watering Trough

A brown cow stands beside a fence at the water's edge, with a red-roofed farmhouse and trees behind it. Oranges, yellows, and greens are layered, and the shadows of the cow and buildings are reflected on the water. It is an oil painting, 59.5 cm high by 72.5 cm wide.

According to the Shimane Art Museum, a calm farm scene with livestock was a subject Gauguin favored. Having started out as an Impressionist, he grew more and more drawn to the simple, primitive life of rural people, and moved the setting of his work to Brittany from 1886 and to Tahiti from 1891.

The museum explains that the work is based on a farm landscape near Dieppe, a small town in northwestern France where he stayed for three months in 1885. The soft brushwork and the damp atmosphere retain the Impressionist style he had in 1885, while the flat rendering of forms and the use of vivid color show the seeds of the original expression that would lead to his later style.