This painting depicts two nude women standing, facing the left. The women have pale skin, and the woman on the left has red-blond hair while the woman on the right has dark brown hair. They are both reaching upward, and behind them is a tall tree with green leaves. Behind the tree is a green landscape with distant blue mountains under a cloudy blue sky.

Sweet Tremulous Leaves

Arthur B. Davies

This painting depicts two nude women standing, facing the left. The women have pale skin, and the woman on the left has red-blond hair while the woman on the right has dark brown hair. They are both reaching upward, and behind them is a tall tree with green leaves. Behind the tree is a green landscape with distant blue mountains under a cloudy blue sky.

Colors in this work

Details

Date
1922/1923
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 77.2 x 46.4 cm (30 3/8 x 18 1/4 in.) framed: 97.8 x 67.6 x 3.2 cm (38 1/2 x 26 5/8 x 1 1/4 in.)
Department
CAB
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Chester Dale Collection

Art Genome Taxonomy

10 tags

Subject Matter

  • Nude Both · 99%

    The catalog describes two nude women, and the image clearly shows two unclothed female figures.

  • Human Figure Both · 99%

    Two human bodies and faces are the central visible subjects.

  • Figures in Nature Both · 98%

    The figures are placed directly within a leafy setting beside a tree trunk; the catalog also describes the surrounding landscape and vegetation.

  • Landscapes Both · 95%

    The image includes a tree, foliage, blue-gray distance, and landscape-like background passages, consistent with the catalog’s description of a green landscape and distant blue mountains.

Visual Qualities

  • Curvilinear Forms Visual · 90%

    Rounded, flowing contours characterize the figures’ bodies and arms as well as the tree branches and foliage.

  • Dark Colors Visual · 91%

    Dark greens, blue-greens, browns, and subdued flesh tones dominate the composition.

  • Dense Composition Visual · 88%

    The overlapping figures, tree trunk, foliage, and background passages fill most of the tall canvas, creating a concentrated arrangement.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Both · 99%

    The museum classifies the work as a painting, and the image visibly presents a painted canvas surface.

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 99%

    The museum metadata identifies the medium as oil on canvas.

Time Periods

  • 1918 - 1939 (Interwar) Art Metadata · 99%

    The work is dated 1922/1923, within the catalog’s 1918–1939 interwar period category.

Source & rights

Arthur B. Davies. Sweet Tremulous Leaves. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources