Natee Utarit had been very clear from the beginning that these paintings depicting oak trees from Forest of Fontainebleau are not landscapes. Barbizon forest, a legendary inspiration for the likes of Théodore Rousseau and countless other landscape artists was to the young Natee an image from a scenery book in the art school library. Natee had depicted landscape in his works on a periodic basis. In doing so, he had developed a way of thinking by painting landscape with unfamiliar styles and techniques at intervals between creations of new art pieces. His interest went beyond the imagery and into the sources of inspiration behind the making of these paintings, particularly the contexts involving the definition, association with place and the historical significance that it carries.
