Model

Model, painted in 1905 and held in Helsinki's Finnish National Gallery (Ateneum), depicts a nude figure in a studio or outdoor context characteristic of Cross's Mediterranean Divisionist period. By 1905 Cross was at the height of his Divisionist achievement, working in Saint-Clair with a mature technique that used large, mosaic-like strokes of vibrant color to build figures and landscapes of trembling luminosity. The nude figure had been a subject of Divisionist ambition since Seurat's Bathers at Asnières and Models, and Cross pursued it as a way of testing Divisionist color theory against the demands of rendering human flesh in outdoor Mediterranean light. The Finnish National Gallery's acquisition of this work reflects the remarkable internationalization of French Post-Impressionism through exhibitions and private sales in Scandinavia, where advanced French art found enthusiastic collectors and institutions from the 1890s onward.

The nude figure is built from mosaic-like strokes of divided color — flesh tones achieved through juxtaposed touches of warm pink, ochre, and violet rather than mixed paint — set against a landscape or interior rendered in complementary cooler hues. Cross's mature brushstroke is larger and freer than Seurat's disciplined dot.