The Summer

The Summer of 1873, held at the Musée d'Orsay, is a major statement of Puvis's allegorical approach to the seasons, developed independently of any specific public commission. Summer offered him the richest and most immediately pleasurable of the four seasonal allegories — harvest abundance, warm light, figures at ease in a landscape of plenty — and his treatment reflects a sustained meditation on the human enjoyment of natural generosity. The Orsay canvas predates the Hôtel de Ville seasonal decorations by nearly two decades, and its warm, relaxed mood influenced how those later, monumental treatments of the same subject were conceived. By 1873 Puvis had completed the major Amiens and Marseille commissions and was at work on the Panthéon cycle; The Summer represents an interlude of personal expression between civic obligations.

Summer's warm, golden palette is the richest and most saturated in Puvis's seasonal output, reflecting the sensory fullness the season invited. Figures are arranged in relaxed horizontal and diagonal groupings that convey ease and abundance without the processional formality of his civic allegories. Light is even but warm, suggesting the full blaze of midsummer.