Sunlight (Benson)

Sunlight

Artist	Frank Weston Benson
Year	1909 (1909)
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	81 cm × 51 cm (32 in × 20 in)
Location	Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana

Sunlight is an oil painting by Frank Weston Benson currently in the permanent collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Description

Sunlight is created in the American impressionist style. It is a portrait of a woman, who has been identified as Benson's daughter, Eleanor, standing on a hill, looking out towards the Atlantic Ocean off Penobscot Bay in Maine. She is in a white dress that is getting ruffled by the wind blowing off the ocean. Her left hand is up, shielding her face from the sun, while her right hand is planted on her hip, a pose Benson used multiple times. Because of the woman shielding her eyes form the sun, it is likely that the sunlight is the actual subject of the painting.^[1]

Historical information

Frank W Benson started working with the Impressionist style at the turn of the 20th century,^[2] and started exclusively using the style by 1909. Benson was one of the forerunners of American Impressionism, especially within the Ten American Painters. Benson was known for painting the idealized world, especially that of the leisure of New England.

Benson was, like most Impressionists, very interested in light. Benson himself stated that, "I follow the light, where it comes from, where it goes."^[2]

Acquisition

Painted in 1909, the painting was included in the Sixth Annual Exhibition of Works by American Artists, December 4, 1910 - January 1, 1911. It was later purchased from the artist by the John Herron Art Institute, now Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 1911.^[3]

References

↑ "Catalog Entry on Sunlight". Indianapolis Museum of Art. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
1 2 Bedford, Faith Andrews (1999). "Benson Biography". Retrieved 2 May 2012.
↑ "Provenance of Sunlight". Indianapolis Museum of Art. Retrieved 2 May 2012.

Indianapolis Museum of Art

Significant
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Asian Art	Bowl with two violet spots Cong-shaped vase Covered jar with carp design Fine Wind, Clear Morning Ksitigarbha bodhisattva Ritual wine server Shigaraki ware storage jar Vase with carved peony scrolls Vase with nine peach design

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European Painting and Sculpture to 1945	Aristotle Battle Between Carnival and Lent Breton Women at a Wall Broek in Waterland Charing Cross Bridge Crucifix Crucifixion Enclosed Field with Peasant Entry of Christ into Jerusalem Entry of Christ into Jerusalem House in Provence Landscape near Arles Ma Jolie Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalene Man and Woman Peasant with a Wheelbarrow Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments Self-Portrait Rembrandt Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar Still Life with Profile of Laval The Banks of the Oise near Pontoise The Boy The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe The Country Dance The Crucifixion Cranach The Fifth Plague of Egypt The Flageolet Player on the Cliff The Flight into Egypt The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny The Negress The Seamstress The Triumphant Entry of Constantine into Rome The Two Sisters The Valkhof at Nijmegen Triptych of the Annunciation Vorhor, the Green Wave

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Prints, Drawings, and Photographs	Blasting St. Vincent's Rock, Clifton Boreas and Oreithyia Galinthias Outwits Eileithyia by Announcing the Birth of Heracles Mother (Mutter) Moulin Rouge: La Goulue The Holy Family with the Dragonfly Young Woman in Blue

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by location

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Oldfields	Copy of Diana of Versailles Diana with Dog Female and Male Herm Fountain Four Seasons Landon-Era Birdbath Mother and Child (Gordine) Nymph and Fawn Sundial, Boy With Spider The Three Graces' Pair of Urns

100 Acres	Bench Around the Lake Eden II Free Basket Funky Bones Indianapolis Island Park of Laments Stratum Pier Team Building

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Marion County Indianapolis metropolitan area Indiana

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Sunlight (Benson)

Description

Historical information

Acquisition

See also

References