Boats on the Oise

Daubigny was one of the painters of the Barbizon school and is considered an important pioneer of Impressionism. Daubigny's finest pictures most often consist of carefully completed landscapes with trees, a river and a few ducks. It has been said that when Daubigny favored one of his pictures he would add another duck or two, so that the number of ducks often correlated to the artistic quality of his pictures. But it’s a very dubious statement, and surprisingly enough, you won’t find any ducks in this painting. One of Daubigny’s sayings was, "The best pictures do not sell".