Métairie des Abeilles
- Artist: Derwent Lees
- Date: 1912
- Medium: Oil paint on wood
- Dimensions: support: 330 x 406 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the “Métairie des Abeilles” by Derwent Lees. Painted in 1912, this oil on wood captures a small farm near the village of Les Abeilles, just south of Collioure on the Mediterranean. The scene is bright and airy, with a modest hill and a patch of wooded landscape that frames a sunny field, hinting at the bees that the name evokes.
Lees, born in Australia and working in Britain, was part of the circle of Impressionist and Post‑Impressionist painters who spent winters in southern France before the war. He drew inspiration from Henri Matisse and Vincent van Gogh, both of whom also painted in that region. This influence shows in the painter’s bold, vivid brushwork and the lively color palette that gives the work a feeling of immediacy.
The title itself refers to the small holding, a subject that appears in several of his Collioure paintings. It’s a quiet moment of rural life, rendered with a keen eye for light and the subtle textures of the landscape. The piece invites you to imagine the hum of bees and the warmth of a Mediterranean afternoon.
See it in person
Métairie des Abeilles is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
