Summer (Benson, 1890)
1890 · Oil on canvas · Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
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About this work
- Artist
- Frank W. Benson (1862–1951)
- Year
- 1890
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 127.3 × 101.6 cm
- Collection
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
- Movement
- Aesthetic Movement
A young woman with flowers in her hair walks towards us through a summer meadow, a long lilac scarf blowing around her shoulders and slender trees and still water behind her. Benson painted this allegory of summer in 1890, early in his career, when he was still painting idealised figures in the academic manner he had learned in Paris, and it won him the Shaw Fund prize at the Society of American Artists that year. The broken colour in the scarf and grasses already points to the outdoor painting he took up a decade later. It came to the Smithsonian with the collection of John Gellatly in 1929.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A soft, dreamy figure in lilac, white and green for a bedroom or sitting room in a dark wood or thin black frame. It pairs well with Thayer's angels and Dewing's women and suits a sage or pale grey wall.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Aesthetic Movement painting
- Era
- 19th century (1890)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- bedroom, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — dark wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Summer in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Summer painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
