Explore the Description of this artwork, Scène d'été.
Scène d'été consists of eight male figures basking and bathing on the banks of the river Lez, near Méric. Apart from the two wrestlers in the center of the work, the figures are shaded by white poplar trees.: 41, 138  Art historian Michel Hilaire observes that the painting demonstrates Bazille's mastery of light. Bazille captures the vivid sunlight of the summer day by painting distinct, high-contrast areas of dark and light, and through the use of bright colors, from the light greens and yellows of the foliage, to the red and blue bathing suits, the darker greens and blues for the shaded regions, the bright blue sky, and the light tan, beige, and pink for the skin of the figures.: 143 In terms of technique, Bazille shies away from loose or spontaneous brushwork, rather opting to define the landscape through thin, detailed lines and shapes. Critically, the buildings in the distant background modernize the scene, making the work distinct from the bright, naturalist works of the Renaissance, as well as cementing the scene as a depiction of Bazille's own surroundings, rather than of an ancient or Arcadian stage. Further evidence of modernity in the painting is highlighted by the figures being clothed rather than nude—time-accurate given Montpellier's restriction of nude bathing in the Lez.Through Scène d'été, Bazille demonstrates the connection between his work and the larger realist movement, showcasing ordinary events of everyday life as Bazille saw them. As art historian François Daulte describes, Bazille, in Scène d'été, creates a harmony between the bodies, the trees, and the clouds, in some ways to evoke renaissance or even classical sentiments. Bazille further evokes renaissance art through the composition's symmetry, the square shape of the canvas, which was particularly unusual at the time, and through the boldness and vividness of the color palette. Here, the subject of the painting is important as well. While Bazille evokes work and themes of art of the past, Scène d'été is also innovative, especially given that it takes themes usually associated with the female nude, and reinvents them according to both principles of modernity and notions of masculinity.
Montpellier canvas Renaissance white poplar