Poplars 

Giuseppe de Nittis painted Poplars in oil on panel. Its earthy palette and textured surface evoke a mood of serene contemplation. The composition is structured around a strong horizontal axis that divides the earth from the sky, contrasting the rough, textured foreground with the smooth, gradient sky. The painting's structure reveals De Nittis' engagement with the poetics of space and the semiotics of landscape. The poplars function as vertical markers, disrupting the horizontal flow, while the distant town introduces a semiotic element which subtly hints at human presence. The artist seems to be questioning conventional landscape representation by foregrounding the formal qualities of line, color, and texture over narrative or symbolic content. The restricted palette reinforces the painting's formal emphasis, creating a unified visual field where individual elements are subordinated to the overall aesthetic effect. This invites us to consider the artwork not just as a depiction of a place, but as an exercise in visual language and spatial organization.