The Road to la Rochepot

© estate of Josef Herman. All rights reserved, DACS 2025. Image credit: Ben Uri Collection

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Notes

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In his autobiography, 'Related Twilights: Notes from an Artist’s Diary', Herman relates how he came upon la Rochepot by chance while travelling through Burgundy in east-central France: 'There were hills, all pink and red, tall with golden leaves in autumnal splendour ', he recalled. 'Along the road came a procession of ultramarine carts each pulled by a giant of a horse and followed by a peasant couple, the man dressed in faded blue – almost lilac – and the woman covered from head to foot in black. […] It was a fortnight of bright autumn days, and nights lit by a red moon. Just to walk in this magnificence was sheer enchantment, and afterwards to draw the things I saw was an added joy'. This painting contains the classic elements of a Herman composition: a twilight setting and palette blending urban and rural elements with stoic peasant figures at its heart.

Ben Uri Gallery & Museum

London

Title

The Road to la Rochepot

Date

1952–1953

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 87 x W 107 cm

Accession number

2018-15

Acquisition method

accepted by HM Government, lieu of Inheritance Tax from the estate of Eleonore Marie Herman, 2017

Work type

Painting

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Ben Uri Gallery & Museum

108a Boundary Road, St John's Wood, London, Greater London NW8 0RH England

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