In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, Edgar Degas found himself exiled in Normandy, far from the Parisian studios that had nurtured his early career. It was during this period of displacement in 1871 that he painted Horses in a Meadow, a work that stands apart from his later, more famous depictions of ballet dancers and bustling city life. The painting is notable for its rare subject: not the stage or the racetrack, but the quiet, everyday existence of horses grazing freely.

This moment of rural calm, created while Degas was a refugee from war, offers a unique window into both his personal circumstances and his evolving artistic interests. In Horses in a Meadow, Degas captures a tranquil scene: a small group of horses, their bodies relaxed, heads lowered to graze, scattered across a lush, sunlit field. The composition is informal and spontaneous, as if glimpsed in passing, with the animals arranged at varying distances and angles. The loose, sketch-like brushwork and the soft, natural palette evoke the fleeting quality of an outdoor impression, anticipating the plein-air techniques that would soon define the Impressionist movement.

Unlike the highly finished equestrian portraits of Théodore Géricault, Degas’s horses are neither heroic nor idealized; instead, they are observed with the keen eye of a draftsman, their anatomy rendered with both precision and affection. The precise medium of Horses in a Meadow remains uncertain—it may be oil, pastel, or a combination of both, reflecting Degas’s experimental approach during this period. The painting’s early history is not well documented, and it is likely that it remained in the artist’s possession for some time, as was common with many of his works from the 1870s. Today, it stands as an important example of Degas’s engagement with landscape and animal subjects, genres he would soon leave behind as he turned his focus to the ballet and the city.

Horses in a Meadow thus marks a transitional moment in Degas’s career, capturing both a personal exile and an artistic crossroads.