Picnic in the Country

Vlaminck was very much encouraged and influenced by Matisse in his painting style. Picnic in the Country, by Maurice de Vlaminck depicts a man and a woman who are having a picnic together in the middle of the country where there is nothing and nobody else around to distract or deter their attention away from each other. This was done during a period of time when a form of industrialization and many various forms of shopping and things that took people's attentions away from things that used to matter most, like leisure time doing nothing but being with the ones that they love. The man does not even almost have a face. That could be because his face is not important for the contents of the whole scheme of the picture. This painting shows two people who seem to be very much in love and enjoying each other's presence just simply having a picnic. Though, if they are said to be out in the country, where there is nothing around them, what is the chaos that is happening in the foreground and background? They are surrounded by the energy and intensity of love and romantic emotion. This intense emotion of the artist at the time can also be seen in the harsh way he painted this. The brush strokes are not meant to make a beautiful picture in what the viewer would see as they look at this painting; these brush strokes are meant to make the viewer feel something when they look at this painting.