Landscape with Smokestacks

Landscape with Smokestacks is a major drawing created by Edgar Degas French, 1834-1917, between 1890 and 1893. This piece exemplifies the artist’s radical experimentation with mixed media techniques during his later career. Classified as a drawing, the work was meticulously constructed using pastel applied over a previously executed monotype impression on textured cream wove paper, which was then edge-mounted on a board. This unusual, multi-layered method allowed Degas to quickly establish broad areas of tone and atmosphere through the monotype process, subsequently refining and highlighting the structure of the scene with the expressive, gestural strokes of the pastel.

The subject matter marks a notable shift for Degas, moving away from his familiar Parisian interiors and figures toward the depiction of the French countryside transformed by industrialization. The prominent presence of stark smokestacks amidst the rolling hills captures the tension between nature and modernization prevalent in France at the turn of the century. The deep, atmospheric colors and hazy outlines achieved through the technique emphasize the effects of light and environmental changes, reflecting the artist’s interest in abstraction during this period. Degas often explored landscapes in a serial manner, treating them as exercises in pure form and color.

This highly textured and historically significant composition is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The innovative methods employed by Degas in producing Landscape with Smokestacks demonstrate why he remains one of the most studied masters of 19th-century art. Though not yet in the public domain, high-quality prints and reproductions of this drawing remain vital for understanding the scope of Degas's contributions to modernism.