Frank Weston Benson's 'Summer' at RISD Museum Celebrates Modern Womanhood

The RISD Museum in Providence, Rhode Island, houses Frank Weston Benson's 1909 oil painting 'Summer,' a tribute to the modern young woman as idealized by the American Impressionist. The artwork, likely Benson's most renowned, depicts four young women—his daughters and niece—enjoying a picnic on the cliffs of North Haven Island in Maine, where the Benson family had their summer home. The figures, portrayed with confident gazes and lively poses, embody optimism for the future. Benson, a key figure in American Impressionism, adapted French Impressionist techniques, particularly in his brushwork that captures the play of light on surfaces. He initially sketched his models en plein air and took photographs before executing the final piece in his studio. The landscape and the women's bodies appear sculpted from shimmering light rather than solid matter, lending the painting an ethereal yet vibrant quality. This work is part of a broader feature on summer-themed art, which includes pieces by Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, Berthe Morisot, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Jean Frédéric Bazille.