In this composition with Edenic overtones, Maillol unfolds a poetic and harmonious vision of the female nude in an idyllic garden. The two silhouettes are set within a stylized landscape where an almost mythological serenity prevails.
The palette of subdued yet luminous hues—deep greens, solar yellows, vibrant reds—creates a dreamlike atmosphere. The rigorously structured composition reveals the influence of architectural principles dear to the artist. The economy of pictorial means demonstrates a synthetic approach where form takes precedence over anecdote. This work perfectly embodies Maillol’s transition toward an aesthetic of monumental simplicity.
On the reverse of this canvas are two divisionist studies: a rural landscape and two portraits of elegant women in an outdoor setting.
Further information
- Two Nudes in a Landscape, by Aristide Maillol, between 1890 and 1900
- 97 x 122 cm
- Paris Musées, Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, exhibited in Garden Level Room 09 (Concorde room)
- https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/petit-palais/oeuvres/deux-nus-dans-un-paysage-recto-deux-femmes-en-chapeau-et-etude-de-paysage-verso
Aristide Maillol (1861-1944), primarily celebrated for his sculptural work, began his career as a painter and textile artist before dedicating himself to the statuary that brought him fame. This canvas reveals the artist’s constant fascination with the female form, which constituted the gravitational center of his entire oeuvre.
Trained in the Symbolist movement and influenced by Gauguin, whom he deeply admired, Maillol progressively developed an artistic language of great formal purity. The stylistic duality of this work—Synthetism on the front, Divisionism on the reverse—testifies to his pictorial explorations during a pivotal period of his artistic evolution, before he devoted himself entirely to sculpture, where he would excel, reinvigorating statuary art through generous and balanced volumes that established him as one of the major sculptors of the 20th century.
