Haymaking, circa 1910. A sunny Provençal landscape by Augustin Carrera. A modern writing with a structured touch and tawny colors.

Oil on panel

Has the workshop stamp on the back.

Dimensions: 54 x 65 cm

With frame: 80 x 91 cm

Augustin Carrera, a talented, luminous painter and an outstanding colorist

The influence of fauvism which had just died out; simplified forms, partitioned by very marked contours, and audacity in chromatic research.

Augustin Carrera places particular importance on light and the harmony of tones. In our work, touches of brighter colours, orange, purple blue, yellow and crimson red, cleverly scattered throughout the canvas, add contrast to this haymaking scene with its pastel harmony.

A happy haymaking with the scents and light of Provence 

 Haymaking is a recurring theme in painting.

The scene takes place in early summer, in June or July. Protected from the sun by straw hats, a peasant and two peasant women are busy cutting and harvesting hay. A cart pulled by two donkeys awaits the load. In the background, we can see a village and the mountains in the distance.

Human figures and nature appear perfectly blended and a feeling of tranquility dominates.

"Carrera found a way in his painting to combine the boldness of the colorist with the exquisite finesse of the atmosphere." Bourdelle.

Biography

 Augustin Émile Benoit Carrera is a painter of French nationality of Spanish origin born in Madrid and died in Paris.

As a child, he followed his parents who came to settle in Marseille to practice their trade as espadrille craftsmen.

Gifted in drawing from a young age, he soon joined the School of Fine Arts in Marseille and then the School of Fine Arts in Paris where he became a student of Léon Bonnat.

In galleries and museums, Carrera observed and immersed himself in the works of Cézanne, Gauguin and Seurat. However, it was Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Monet and Pissaro who would have the greatest influence on his work. 

From 1904, he exhibited at the Salons des Artistes Français, the Artistes Indépendants and the Tuileries. He sent nudes, portraits, flowers, landscapes and views of ports. It is in his southern views that he shows himself to be the most fiery colorist. Carrera astonishes by the vivacity of his palette, made of violent and audacious tones, fauve in a way.

In 1912 the artist received the Indochina Scholarship. Carrera lived in the Far East for eight months and brought back compositions with new subjects. The King of Cambodia then entrusted him with the creation of monumental panels for his palace.

 During a trip to Spain in the following years, Carrera had a revelation when he discovered the works of El Greco and Velasquez.

On his return, he moved to Paris, to the artistic center of the Montparnasse district.

He formed ties with the politician, collector and friend of painters, Albert Sarraut, who included the artist's paintings in his collection, among the greatest.

The art critic François Thiébault-Sisson, who followed him assiduously, allowed him to further assert his reputation, already acquired during exhibitions at the Druet gallery and the Georges Petit gallery.

Carrera's works became highly prized by collectors.

 Augustin Carrera is a person with a whole character, proud and full of freedom, but his spirit of independence did not prevent him from carrying out numerous state orders.

Fascinated by the theatre, he frequented many establishments and was entrusted with the creation of the sets for the Marseille Opera in 1924.

 Carrera was made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1920 and an officer in 1928.

Bibliography

 • René Édouard-Joseph, Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Artists, volume 1, AE, Art & Édition, 1930, p. 243

 • Benezit, 1961

• Camille Rouvier, Augustin Carrera: (1878-1952), 1962

 • Gérald Schurr, 1820-1920, the little masters of painting:

• tomorrow's value, 1982, p. 58

Museums

 Paris: Pompidou Center, Luxembourg Museum