The Derby at Epsom

1821

Oil on canvas, 92 × 123 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris

Four jockeys race across open turf under a low, heavy sky. Horses were a lifelong subject for the painter, and this small canvas dates from the period of his stay in England.

Known as the Derby of 1821, though the museum says that name is only traditional.
Look at the legs, flung out front and back at once, with every hoof off the ground.
The horses' near-identical strides repeat across the canvas like a frieze, above a plain, low landscape.
Speed becomes a feeling. The flying gallop is physically impossible, as photography later showed, yet it conveys rush and excitement better than an accurate pose would.
Bought for the Louvre in 1866; the museum does not record the seller.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (PD-Art)