Nude with agave

This 1920 oil at Princeton Art Museum places a nude figure against or near an agave plant — a dramatic, architectural succulent native to the Americas but widely cultivated in Mediterranean gardens by the early twentieth century. The combination of the female nude and southern botanical forms became a motif for Van Rysselberghe in his late career, connecting the human body to the rhythms and structures of the natural world. By 1920 he had lived near the Mediterranean coast for over a decade and the sharp, spiky forms of agave, cactus, and umbrella pine appear repeatedly in his late work as emblems of a sun-drenched Provençal identity. The Princeton collection's holding of this work reflects the broad North American acquisition of European Post-Impressionist painting in the early twentieth century. Painted four years before his death, the work belongs to a final creative phase marked by lyrical looseness, rich colour, and a move away from theoretical rigidity toward sensory pleasure.

Oil on canvas with warm Mediterranean colour ranges — deep greens, olive greys, and ochres for the agave set against the warmer pinks and creams of the flesh. Brushwork is fluid and varied: long strokes define the agave leaves while shorter, more considered touches build up the figure's surface. The contrast between the plant's geometric hardness and the figure's softness is emphasised through opposite handling.