The Artists of Fontainebleau Forest

The Barbizon School

Forest of Fontainebleau 1834 Camille Corot

The Barbizon School of painters was an art colony named for the small village southeast of Paris from which it based. Located near the 97-square mile Forest of Fontainebleau, Barbizon became a favorite painting location for realist artists working directly from nature during the period from about 1830 through 1870. A few of the most notable artists associated with the Barbizon School include Théodore Rousseau, Charles-François Daubigny, Jean-François Millet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Their tonal paintings with soft brushwork were inspired by the landscape and the local people working there. Their work attracted the attention of and influenced the next generation of artists as well, many of whom also visited the Forest of Fontainebleau to paint, including Impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet.

Other members of this loosely-knit group of artists included: Jules Dupré, Constant Troyon, Charles…