Femmes et enfants dans un jardin en été 1912

Curator: Before us hangs "Femmes et enfants dans un jardin en été," which translates to "Women and Children in a Summer Garden." It’s an oil on canvas created by Henri Lebasque around 1912. It just breathes of simple, idyllic family life. Editor: The initial feel is absolutely gorgeous. It has such a dreamy, warm feel to it. It's hazy and luscious all at once with that strong central composition built through framing. The colors are so evocative. I would also stress the intimacy it reveals, maybe by virtue of it being framed. Curator: Absolutely. Lebasque masterfully uses light and color to create this atmosphere, doesn't he? I can almost feel the warmth of the sun filtering through the leaves and smell the sweet fragrance of the garden’s flowers. He uses broad brushstrokes with the greens melting together in this dreamy summer atmosphere. I love how he focuses the light towards the center of the composition, towards the children playing. Editor: Yes, the luminescence of the garden and the composition here are masterful, achieved mostly via an impressionist-like patchwork of layered brushstrokes, especially visible in the women’s dresses or in the pink shades of the flowerbed below. These are obviously a family in a safe private haven – a garden protected, shut off from the outside. The framing certainly contributes to that effect by shutting out the garden from prying eyes, creating what seems like an incredibly comfortable microcosm. I guess you would class this painting among genre-painting. Curator: I think that the genius here really lies in the post-impressionistic feel. It brings so much raw life, movement and the simple energy of kids playing and mothers and daughters chatting, to the front. If anything this makes this garden so realistic in its intimate framing of that day. I wonder how much of it he painted plein air. Editor: It definitely bears marks of impressionist and post-impressionist styles; and there is also that slightly darker feel. What strikes me more are the pure material properties, for example the composition relies quite substantially on this dialogue of brick vs green nature, in terms of color, shape and even materiality – it offers a certain contrast to an otherwise quite homogenous artwork. It gives the garden depth. Curator: It's so simple in execution, so grounded in a simple human connection that for me the emotion conveyed within is something incredibly tangible. Almost a memory in a sense. Editor: Absolutely, that material property adds some much needed balance. For all of us, I believe this painting speaks on several levels – a masterful interplay of colors, light and the sheer bliss and private feeling to it.