Summer's Day
Two women in a rowing boat on the lake in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris — the lake and its boats are still there.
bois de Boulogne
The painting shows a real, identified place that you can find today. The exact spot the artist worked from is not necessarily known.
Summer's Day — at a glance
- Artist
- Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)
- Year
- c. 1879
- Movement
- Impressionism
- Place
- The lake, Bois de Boulogne, Paris
- Viewpoint
- Out on the boating lake — the lake and boat-hire survive
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- c. 46 × 75 cm
- Now at
- The National Gallery, London
Overview
Summer's Day is one of the pictures Berthe Morisot showed at the fourth Impressionist exhibition in 1879. It shows two fashionably dressed young women sitting in a small rowing boat on a park lake, close to the viewer, with ducks on the water and a screen of trees and other boats behind. It is oil on canvas, about 46 by 75 cm, and it hangs in the National Gallery, London.
Its alternative title, The Lake in the Bois de Boulogne, names the spot.
Where was Summer's Day painted?
Museum interpretation The Bois de Boulogne is the large public park on the western edge of Paris, laid out in its present form in the 1850s–60s. Its Lac Inférieur, with rowing boats for hire and a wooded island, was a fashionable place for a Sunday outing. The lake, the island and the boat-hire are still there; Morisot's picture is a moment on the water rather than a fixed viewpoint on the bank.
What is in the painting?
Two women fill the boat: one in a striped dress looking off to the left, the other in dark clothes and a hat gazing out past the viewer, a furled parasol between them. The gunwale of the boat runs across the lower canvas. The water is a dense mesh of rapid green, blue and white strokes; a few ducks swim; behind, more boats, a bank and trees dissolve into flecked colour.
Look closely
The cut-off boat
The gunwale runs across the foreground and both ends of the boat are cropped by the frame — the viewer is aboard.
The two gazes
One woman looks off to the left, the other past the viewer; neither meets the other's eye.
The hatched water
The lake is a mesh of separate green and blue strokes left visible on the surface.
The ducks
A few ducks swim between the boat and the wooded bank behind.
Analysis
Composition and technique
The viewer shares the boat: a very close, cropped view with the figures pressed to the picture plane and the water filling the rest.
Scholarship Morisot crops the boat so its ends are cut by the frame and places the viewer at water level, as if on the seat opposite. The women are painted with quick, open strokes barely more finished than the water, so figures and setting share one restless, sketch-like surface — among the freest handling in Impressionism.
Colour and light
Bright, broken greens and blues across the whole surface, with white and black accents in the women's clothes.
The lake is built from hatched strokes of many greens and blues laid side by side and left visible; the dresses supply the strongest darks and lights. The effect is of dazzle and movement, sunlight on disturbed water.
History & provenance
The painting was owned by the collector and dealer connections of the Impressionists, entered the Sir Hugh Lane bequest, and is in the National Gallery, London.
Sources
- The National Gallery, London — collection entry for Berthe Morisot, ‘Summer's Day’ (c. 1879; oil on canvas, c. 46 × 75 cm; Lane Bequest)
- Jean-Dominique Rey / Sylvie Patry, ‘Berthe Morisot’ literature
Frequently asked
Where is Summer's Day set?
On the Lac Inférieur (the boating lake) in the Bois de Boulogne, the large public park on the western edge of Paris. The picture's other title is ‘The Lake in the Bois de Boulogne’.
Can you go there?
Yes. The lake, its wooded island and rowing-boat hire are still there and still used. The painting shows a moment out on the water rather than a particular spot on the shore.
Who are the two women?
Fashionable young Parisiennes on a park outing; Morisot did not identify them. She often painted women of her own social world at leisure.
Why does it look so unfinished?
Deliberately. Morisot painted the women with the same quick, open strokes as the water, so the whole surface reads as one sketch-like, sunlit mesh — among the freest handling in Impressionism.
Where is the painting now?
In the National Gallery, London (Lane Bequest).
Related paintings
More by Berthe Morisot
