Leon Wyczółkowski
A game of croquet
The painting is one of three versions of the same topic taken from different angle. It depicts two women playing croquet at the sunset (as more clearly visible in other two versions). The scene was captured in Turobojski estate in Korytnica near Warsaw in 1892. In the same year Wyczólkowski painted two studies of the third woman (not visible in Warsaw's version) and preserved in the National Museum in Kraków.
The movement, a glimpse, a moment while hitting the ball, vivid colors and light of sunset contribute to the unique impression of the painting apart from apparent technique. It was painted with a wide, sometimes flat stains of color. The texture is sometimes divisionist as the artist juxtaposed large surfaces of red, blue and white.
Croquet in the country is the noble thing, as recalled Wyczółkowski. The painting allows to understand the changes taking place in artist's oeuvre, a transition from epic scenes involving Ukrainian peasants to the well observed images of carefree life in the countryside. This motif attracted him for some time as evidenced in numerous versions. The image is a brilliant record of artist's impressions, painted in flaming light of the sunset on a summer afternoon. Sun, as explained the artist, sucks off the local hue that perish, creating in its place the colors imposed by the sunlight. The reflections of sunlight on the women's clothing are no longer the main feature, no longer binding the structure as in the final version.
The painting is more monochromatic, more somber and less detailed then the final version, which was accomplished in 1895, today in the Art Museum in Łódź (166 x 135 cm, MS/SP/M/202, signed L Wyczółkowski 1895). A reduced version of Łódź's painting (90 x 77 cm, MNK II-b-174) as well as a study of a woman's head (30 x 62 cm, MNK II-b-537) and another study of the same woman in full length (32 x 19 cm, MNK-II-b-839) are in Kraków.
The movement, a glimpse, a moment while hitting the ball, vivid colors and light of sunset contribute to the unique impression of the painting apart from apparent technique. It was painted with a wide, sometimes flat stains of color. The texture is sometimes divisionist as the artist juxtaposed large surfaces of red, blue and white.
Croquet in the country is the noble thing, as recalled Wyczółkowski. The painting allows to understand the changes taking place in artist's oeuvre, a transition from epic scenes involving Ukrainian peasants to the well observed images of carefree life in the countryside. This motif attracted him for some time as evidenced in numerous versions. The image is a brilliant record of artist's impressions, painted in flaming light of the sunset on a summer afternoon. Sun, as explained the artist, sucks off the local hue that perish, creating in its place the colors imposed by the sunlight. The reflections of sunlight on the women's clothing are no longer the main feature, no longer binding the structure as in the final version.
The painting is more monochromatic, more somber and less detailed then the final version, which was accomplished in 1895, today in the Art Museum in Łódź (166 x 135 cm, MS/SP/M/202, signed L Wyczółkowski 1895). A reduced version of Łódź's painting (90 x 77 cm, MNK II-b-174) as well as a study of a woman's head (30 x 62 cm, MNK II-b-537) and another study of the same woman in full length (32 x 19 cm, MNK-II-b-839) are in Kraków.
oil on canvas, 1892-1895, 122 × 96.5 cm (48 × 38 in), inventory number MP 2488, on permanent display in the Gallery of 19th century art, Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie (MNW)
© Marcin Latka
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