IVAN PAVLOVICH POKHITONOV | Automne, L’Isle-Adam

Probably with Galerie Georges Petit, Paris

In the early 1880s, following a number of successful exhibitions in Paris, Ivan Pokhitonov received a contract from the dealer Georges Petit. To satisfy the growing demand for his paintings, the artist spent the next few years travelling through France and Russia, working on his miniature landscapes. His recurring subject of figures embedded in nature was influenced by landscapes of the Barbizon school, which Pokhitonov first discovered at their retrospective at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris. 

The present lot was painted in 1885 in the small commune of L’Isle-Adam, just outside Paris. The area had been frequented by Parisian artists and writers such as Théodore Rousseau, Charles-François Daubigny and Honoré de Balzac, since the mid-19th century. The construction of a new railway line in 1846 allowed Parisians to reach L’Isle-Adam in just over an hour, making it a popular destination with the bourgeoisie.

The present lot will be included in the third volume of the catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Olivier Bertrand.