Snow at Berchem-Sainte-Agathe

Berchem-Sainte-Agathe was a small farming village on the western edge of Brussels when Degouve de Nuncques painted it under snow in 1912. Within a few decades the growing city would absorb it into a residential suburb, but here it is still open country, spread across a wide canvas over five feet wide. The winter light is pale and even, the colours kept cool and light. By this point the strange, expectant night scenes he had made in the 1890s were behind him, and calm, plainly observed landscapes like this were what he painted instead. The snow lies unbroken across the fields and carries that quiet the whole width of the picture.