Summer1891 · Study 1916.1056

Context from the museum

This painting is a smaller version of a mural on the same subject painted for the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, which has a companion mural titled Winter . A writer at the time described Summer as "filled with joy, happiness, rest, and the apotheosis of life." Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, and Pablo Picasso were among the many modernists influenced by Puvis de Chavannes’s dreamlike themes and anti-naturalistic style of simplified, flattened forms.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Puvis de Chavannes was considered one of the foremost artists in France in the second half of the 1800, and was particularly admired for his murals. This painting is a version of a mural he painted in 1889, which was particularly difficult because the wall had a door in the middle.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected unframed measurement for Summer is 232.4 cm wide and 149.6 cm high, equivalent to approximately 91.5 × 58.9 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 1.55:1. The rectangular bounding area is 3.48 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 77.5% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 33.8 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With Summer in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, oil on fabric, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 232.4 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?