Four women sit in a row outside in front of a balustrade and under leafy trees in this loosely painted, horizontal composition. The scene is created with dabs and visible strokes so details are difficult to make out. The women all wear long-sleeved, long-skirted gowns and hats. They hold parasols, and touches of pale green or white suggest gloves. They all have pale-toned skin, and their brown hair is up. The woman to our left wears a pale eucalyptus-green dress over a brick-red bodice. Her elbows are tucked into the cloak or jacket of the outer garment, and she holds a carnation-pink parasol with a few streaks of sky blue. The next woman wears a plum-purple dress with puff-shouldered sleeves and a veil that covers her hat and is gathered under her chin. Her parasol is pearl white. The next woman wears the same shade of carnation pink for her dress and holds a pale yellow parasol, and the fourth woman sits facing our left in profile. She wears a white dress and holds a powder-blue parasol. The shadows cast by the women and the four tree trunks and canopies behind them create muted purple shadows on an apricot-orange ground. Beyond the balustrade, stretches of very pale green, indigo purple, and icy blue suggest grass, a row of trees, and the sky. The texture of the canvas is visible between the forms, like between the edges of the balustrades and the green that fills in the gaps between or around the women’s clothing. The artist signed the lower left corner, “PRENDERGAST.”

In the Park, Paris

Maurice Prendergast

Four women sit in a row outside in front of a balustrade and under leafy trees in this loosely painted, horizontal composition. The scene is created with dabs and visible strokes so details are difficult to make out. The women all wear long-sleeved, long-skirted gowns and hats. They hold parasols, and touches of pale green or white suggest gloves. They all have pale-toned skin, and their brown hair is up. The woman to our left wears a pale eucalyptus-green dress over a brick-red bodice. Her elbows are tucked into the cloak or jacket of the outer garment, and she holds a carnation-pink parasol with a few streaks of sky blue. The next woman wears a plum-purple dress with puff-shouldered sleeves and a veil that covers her hat and is gathered under her chin. Her parasol is pearl white. The next woman wears the same shade of carnation pink for her dress and holds a pale yellow parasol, and the fourth woman sits facing our left in profile. She wears a white dress and holds a powder-blue parasol. The shadows cast by the women and the four tree trunks and canopies behind them create muted purple shadows on an apricot-orange ground. Beyond the balustrade, stretches of very pale green, indigo purple, and icy blue suggest grass, a row of trees, and the sky. The texture of the canvas is visible between the forms, like between the edges of the balustrades and the green that fills in the gaps between or around the women’s clothing. The artist signed the lower left corner, “PRENDERGAST.”

Colors in this work

Details
Artist
Maurice Prendergast
Date
1891
Medium
oil on canvas on board
Dimensions
overall: 23.81 × 34.61 cm (9 3/8 × 13 5/8 in.) framed: 43.82 × 54.77 × 3.18 cm (17 1/4 × 21 9/16 × 1 1/4 in.)
Department
CAB
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Palette

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Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Art Genome Taxonomy

8 tags

Subject Matter

  • Figures in Nature Both · 99%

    Four seated women appear outdoors among trees and a balustrade; the title and catalog description identify the setting as a park.

  • Related to Fashion Both · 82%

    The four figures wear long dresses, hats, and veils, with their clothing and parasols forming prominent visual elements of the scene.

  • Leisure Both · 78%

    The women are seated together in an outdoor park setting with parasols, suggesting a composed scene of public recreation rather than work or ceremony.

Visual Qualities

  • Pastel Colors Visual · 88%

    The palette includes light pink, cream, pale yellow, powder blue, muted green, lavender, and apricot passages that give the scene a predominantly soft, pastel appearance.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Metadata · 100%

    The National Gallery of Art catalogs the work as a painting in oil on canvas on board.

  • Oil Painting Metadata · 100%

    The catalog explicitly identifies the medium as oil on canvas on board.

  • Large Brushstrokes/Loose Brushwork Visual · 97%

    The painting is constructed with conspicuous, broad and broken strokes that leave forms loosely defined, especially in the foliage, clothing, pavement, and shadows.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 100%

    The work is dated 1891, placing it within nineteenth-century art.

Source & rights

Maurice Prendergast. In the Park, Paris. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

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