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Painting of silhouetted trees with water and peach-colored sky

In the foreground of this painting, trees grow on a hillside. The tree and hill are backlit and silhouetted against the sky. They are painted in a medium dark blue with purple branches. Dots of light peek through the tree branches. A periwinkle body of water with lavender hills in the background spans the horizon. Rows of peach-colored dots on the water create the appearance of sparkling light. The sky above is a gradient of peach, yellow, and white dots.

Gallery Text

In the early 1890s, Cross adopted the distinctive “pointillist” style of the neo-impressionist movement, producing brilliantly colored views of the landscape along the Mediterranean in the south of France. Sketches like these, roughly painted on thin, unprimed wood, allowed him to experiment with composition and color arrangements in preparation for his canvases. Easily portable, the lightweight panels were designed to fit into standard paint boxes.

These small studies are related to finished paintings, each offering an intimate detail of what would become a much larger work. Cross’s pointillist technique can best be seen in "Seascape," in which the regularized strokes create the striated colors and reflections of the evening sky. Dappled white and blue dots delineate the interlaced trees and glittering water. Cross was enraptured with the Mediterranean light, which he described as “bathing all things in its radiance.”

[1937.9, 1937.10, 1937.11]

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1973.11
People
Henri-Edmond Cross, French (Douai, France 1856 - 1910 Saint-Clair, France)
Title
Seascape
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1891-1892
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/227933

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2100, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Centuries of Tradition, Changing Times: Art for an Uncertain Age
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
13.7 x 23.8 cm (5 3/8 x 9 3/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Sold [through the artist's estate sale, 1910]; to Mme. Theo van Rysselberge; to Marie Closset (pen name Jean Dominique); to May Sarton, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1973

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of May Sarton
Accession Year
1973
Object Number
1973.11
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 104; repr. as no. 398

Exhibition History

  • Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/31/2019 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu