Jan Frans SIMONS (1855-1919) Conversation in the field Original canvas Signed lower left 51 x 72.5 cm Carries an inventory or sales label on the back In 1883 at the Guillaume tavern in Ixelles, Belgium, Octave MAUS founded the Association les XX, composed of artists looking for pictorial evolution, including James ENSOR, Théo van RYSSELBERGHE, Felicien ROPS and Jan Frans SIMONS. At their first exhibition, the invited artists included Georges SEURAT, Paul GAUGUIN, Claude MONET and Henri Edmond CROSS. Most of them were members of the Libre Esthétique, the movement that succeeded it. J.F. Simons, through his pictorial and aesthetic research, influenced many artists of the new generation.