Terms and conditions of use
Boys on a river bank
(c. 1888-1896); reworked 1906
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
61.0 × 73.2 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1948
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
In 1888, while a student at the Académie Julian in Paris, Paul Sérusier visited the Breton village of Pont-Aven, where he met the influential painter Paul Gauguin. The young Sérusier adopted with enthusiasm many of Gauguin’s revolutionary ideas, particularly those related to colour and composition. These ideas, broadly referred to as Synthetism, involved a subjective approach to interpreting the natural world, through the use of bold expanses of colour and the representation of forms by means of radically simplified shapes. Boys on a river bank, with its simplified forms, strong contours and emphatic tonal register, reveals a clear debt to Gauguin.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in green paint l.r.: P. SéruSier / 1906
Accession Number
1899-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Leisure, Games and Sport Relationships and Interactions
Subjects (specific)
boys children (people by age group) nudes (representations) play (recreation) riverbanks rivers swimming
Provenance
With Galerie Druet, Paris, no. 3485 possibly exhibited Serusier one-man show, 1909 collection of Sir Michael E. Sadler (1861–1943), Leeds, before 1928 included in sale of property of Michael Sadler and other properties, Christie's London, 30 November 1928, as Boys Bathing from where purchased by Martin purchased for the Felton Bequest, 1948.