Going to school

Going to School was painted in 1882 and is now in the collections of Aberdeen Archives, Gallery and Museums, a holding that reflects the intense Scottish and British interest in Bastien-Lepage during the early 1880s. The Glasgow Boys — W.Y. MacGregor, James Guthrie, E.A. Hornel and others — were directly inspired by Bastien-Lepage's rural Naturalism, and Scottish collectors actively sought his work during this period. Going to School depicts children walking to class, a subject that combined the era's progressive interest in universal education with Bastien-Lepage's characteristic attention to ordinary moments in working-class rural life. French primary education had been made free and secular by Jules Ferry's reforms of 1881-82, exactly when this work was painted, giving the subject a topical resonance. Bastien-Lepage presents the children with his characteristic absence of sentimentality: they are observed individuals rather than symbols of childhood innocence.

The composition uses a horizontal format that suits the processional nature of children walking. Bastien-Lepage applies his standard outdoor palette of cool greys and muted earth tones, with the children's clothes providing modest colour accents. Facial expressions are individualised through careful observation.