Artwork Details
19-1/2 x 23-1/2 in. (canvas) 27-3/8 x 31-1/2 x 1-11/16 in. (framed, glazed)
Mark DescriptionSigned with mongram and dated, in blue paint, in lower left: 18 TR 93
Accession NumberThe Holliday Collection
CopyrightEuropean Painting and Sculpture 1800-1945
Color Palette(Wildenstein & Co., New York, New York) by 1961;{1} (Charles Lock Galleries, New York, New York) in 1962;{2} Hammer Galleries, New York, New York) in 1962;{3} acquired by W. J. Holliday [1895-1977], Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1962; bequeathed to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1979 (79.287). {1} A label on the stretcher indicates that the painting was loaned by Wildenstein to the 1961 exhibition Painters by the Sea shown in several California museums. That the paintings early provenance probably includes French-speaking Europe can be gleaned from an inscription on the stretch bar reading Gros nuages. The painting has sometimes been titled Christiana Fjord, Gros Nuages but as Ronald Feltkamp records in Théo van Rysselberghe, 1862-1926 (with catalogue raisonné), Brussels, 2003, catalogue no. 1893-005, the location is likely to be Cadzand, Holland. {2} As recorded in Ellen Wardwell Lee, The Aura of Neo-Impressionism: The W.J. Holliday Collection, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 58-9. {3} See Hammer Galleries, New York, 1962, Seurat and his Friends, October-November, no. 92.
- In this highly simplified composition, the artist limited himself to the interplay of a few shapes and colors. He contrasted the cloud forms with the straight lines of the shore and horizon and confined his color scheme to pairs of harmonies favored by the Neo-Impressionists: yellow and violet, orange and blue.
- This image of a lone boat on a tranquil sea exemplifies the contemplative, meditative qualities of many Neo-Impressionist paintings.
- Van Rysselberghe, Belgium’s foremost Neo-Impressionist, adopted Seurat’s practice of painting a contrasting border at the edge of the canvas. The frame is a reproduction made at the IMA in an attempt to imitate the artist’s original frame, now lost.
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
Neo-Impressionism: Paris - Brussels - c. 1890
The Phillips Collection
September 27, 2014 - January 11, 2015
Vienna 1900: Style and Identity
Neue Galerie Museum for German and Austrian Art
February 24, 2011 - August 8, 2011
Le Neo-Impressionnisme
Réunion des Musées Nationaux Grand Palais
March 14, 2005 - June 26, 2005
Neo-Impressionism: Artists on the Edge
Portland Museum of Art
June 27, 2002 - October 20, 2002
L'Europe des Peintres
Musée d'Orsay
February 23, 1993 - May 23, 1993
The Aura of Neo-Impressionism: The W.J. Holliday Collection
Indianapolis Museum of Art
January 26, 1983 - March 20, 1983
Recent Accessions: European, American and Oriental Art
Indianapolis Museum of Art
January 15, 1980 - February 17, 1980
Homage to Seurat: Recent Additions to the Holliday Collection
Indianapolis Museum of Art
June 21, 1971 - August 29, 1971
Color and Field 1890-1970
The Cleveland Museum of Art
February 4, 1971 - March 28, 1971
Color and Field 1890-1970
The Dayton Art Institute
November 20, 1970 - January 10, 1971
Color and Filed 1890-1970
Albright Knox Art Gallery
September 15, 1970 - November 1, 1970
The Circle of Seurat
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
March 25, 1970 - April 19, 1970
The Circle of Seurat
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
February 15, 1970 - March 15, 1970
The Circle of Seurat
January 7, 1970 - February 8, 1970
The Circle of Seurat
Museum of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg
November 18, 1969 - December 28, 1969
Homage to Seurat
Utah Museum of Fine Arts
March 16, 1969 - April 13, 1969
Homage to Seurat
The University of Arizona Art Gallery
December 1, 1968 - January 1, 1969
Neo-Impressionism
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
February 9, 1968 - April 7, 1968
Seurat and His Friends
Hammer Galleries
October 30, 1962 - November 17, 1962
Painters by the Sea
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
August 8, 1961 - September 3, 1961
Painters by the Sea
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor
July 1, 1961 - July 30, 1961
Homage to Seurat
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Legion of Honor
January 23, 1969 - Date Unknown
Content Disclaimer and Usage Rights
Metadata about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection comes from Newfields’ records and research. In some cases, information may be incomplete and research is ongoing. Newfields’ goal is to have as up-to-date metadata as possible, therefore, this information is subject to change. Newfields collections’ metadata is available under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which allows for re-use without legal restrictions.
Artworks that appear in the image file(s) above may be in copyright or have other legal and/or cultural restrictions to their use. For clarity, Newfields does not claim copyright to the image files created by Newfields of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Newfields makes every effort to ascertain the copyright status of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Please refer to the RightsStatements.org statement above for information about the current copyright status of the artwork. Additionally, some artworks may include Local Context’s Notices or Labels that attribute cultural authority of the artwork’s heritage and data.
Additional information about Newfields’ reproduction guidelines can be found in the Licensing Resources.