In the Forest - Georges Lacombe

A Nabis-style painting by Georges Lacombe featuring three young girls in traditional Breton dress, set against a rhythmic, stylised forest background.

Georges Lacombe, a member of the Nabis group, produced this work during his time in Brittany. The painting depicts three young girls seated on the ground, wearing traditional Breton headwear and dark bodices. Their skirts provide a deliberate contrast in colour, with tones of yellow, red, and orange. The background consists of stylised tree trunks, rendered in a flattened, decorative manner that is characteristic of the Nabis aesthetic.

Lacombe moved away from naturalistic representation, preferring to use simplified forms and bold, non-naturalistic colours to convey a sense of stillness. The composition is structured around the rhythmic repetition of the vertical tree trunks, which frame the figures and create a sense of enclosure. The faces of the girls are painted with a focus on essential features, avoiding unnecessary detail to maintain the overall graphic quality of the image. This approach reflects the influence of Japanese woodblock prints, which were widely admired by the Nabis for their use of flat planes and strong outlines.

The work avoids the atmospheric perspective typical of traditional painting. Instead, the foreground and background are brought into a closer relationship, emphasising the two-dimensional nature of the canvas. The choice of a dark, earthy ground for the figures to sit upon anchors them within the composition, while the repetition of the trees suggests a wider woodland setting without requiring realistic depth. By stripping away extraneous detail, Lacombe directs the viewer towards the formal qualities of the scene, such as the balance of colour and the arrangement of shapes. This piece captures the quiet, contemplative atmosphere that often defined the work of the Nabis, who sought to create art that functioned as a decorative surface rather than a window into a three-dimensional world.