Artist: John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)
Title: An Out-of-Doors Study
Description: English: Paul César Helleu Sketching with his wife Alice
Signature bottom right: John S. Sargent
Date: 1889
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Height: 65.9 cm (25.9 ″); Width: 80.7 cm (31.7 ″)
The weather has been dark and dreary here in the Pacific Northwest. I need sunny day, and I remembered this image. An Out-of-Doors Study, 1889, is by expatriate American artist, John Singer Sargent. It depicts fellow artist and great friend, Paul César Helleu sketching with his wife Alice Guérin. What a lovely day it was, for them to be sitting on the grass, enjoying a carefree moment in life.
What I love about this painting:
This painting depicts a day in the life of two great artists. The grass looks very like that which grows beside streams in my part of the world. The colors are that mix of green and brown that long grass has when summer is just beginning. The blue sky is reflected in the water. They had taken advantage of a fine day in late May or June perhaps, fortunate to have an outing before high summer turns the meadow grass crisp and brown.
The quality of light that day was perfect for a picnic beside the water. One can imagine the two artists working on their individual projects and chatting, having a relaxing lunch, and then taking a quiet walk. We can even wonder if, later, they might have taken the canoe out.
January has been overcast and rainy with little chance of seeing sunshine. I could use a day like this, a picnic beneath blue skies, and a gathering of friends beside a quiet pond.
About the artist, via Wikipedia:
Sargent’s early enthusiasm was for landscapes, not portraiture, as evidenced by his voluminous sketches full of mountains, seascapes, and buildings. Carolus-Duran’s expertise in portraiture finally influenced Sargent in that direction. Commissions for history paintings were still considered more prestigious, but were much harder to get. Portrait painting, on the other hand, was the best way of promoting an art career, getting exhibited in the Salon, and gaining commissions to earn a livelihood.
In a time when the art world focused, in turn, on Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism, Sargent practiced his own form of Realism, which made brilliant references to Velázquez, Van Dyck, and Gainsborough.
Credits and Attributions:
Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Sargent – Paul Helleu Sketching with his Wife.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sargent_-_Paul_Helleu_Sketching_with_his_Wife.jpg&oldid=273586527 (accessed December 5, 2019).
Wikipedia contributors, “John Singer Sargent,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Singer_Sargent&oldid=927728162 (accessed December 5, 2019).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
