The Begonias (The Gardener), 1913

Jenny Montigny had a predilection for painting everyday rural and village scenes in Sint-Martens-Latem. As we see in The Gardener, these snapshot depictions do not reveal poor conditions or the hard life of the labourer. On the contrary, Montigny always paints a harmonious social scene. The subject almost appears to be an excuse for the painting itself and for her attempt to capture the intensity of light on the canvas. The monumental format of The Gardener is unusual in her oeuvre. The horizon is placed fairly high so that two-thirds of the painting is dominated by variations of pink, red and orange-yellow. The whole canvas resembles a firework display of red and pink tones that also colour the sky and the figures.