Summer — from The Seasons

Summer reclines against a garland of red poppies, dipping her feet in a stream, heavy-lidded in the afternoon heat — the most sensuous of Mucha’s four seasons. Her dark hair falls loose, ripe fruit hangs above her, and the whole panel gives off the drowsy weight of a hot day with nothing to do. Where Spring is fresh and upright, Summer melts. Mucha’s genius was to make a cheap decorative print feel this luxurious, worked to the last poppy and curl; Parisians bought the Seasons by the thousand and framed them. The second panel in the cycle of the year, made for the wall of an ordinary home.

Maker

Alphonse Mucha (1860 to 1939)

Date

1896

Medium of the original

Painting

Original held by

Published Paris

Credit

Published Paris · via Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00651