Cleveland Museum of Art

Blessing of a Yacht on the Belon River

Maurice Denis

Date

1899

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

France

Department

Modern European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Maurice Denis made this painting during the summer of 1899 while vacationing with his family in the coastal village of Le Pouldu in Brittany in northwestern France. Two-thirds of this canvas is filled by the lavender-pink surface of the water, dotted with touches of color that suggest reflections of flags and sails on the Belon River. Local women wearing traditional headdresses observe the scene from the riverbank in the foreground, shaded by trees whose foliage frames the top of the composition. Denis was an extremely prolific artist who experimented with other art forms. His decorative murals can be viewed in many French churches as well as on the ceiling of the Champs Élysées Theatre in Paris.

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