Castles in Spain (Chateaux en Espagne)
Harrison painted this picture in Pont-Aven, an artist's colony in Brittany. After making preliminary studies on the beach six kilometers away, he dumped two cartloads of sand in the courtyard of his studio in the village and completed the painting outdoors. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882, where it was the artist's first success. The painter Jules Bastien-Lepage admired its plein-air realism and, as a result, sought Harrison's friendship. The subject may have been inspired by an 1877 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Castles in Spain," which describes the optimistic daydreams of youth. Longfellow died in 1882, the year Harrison completed the painting. Between 1882 and 1884, there were a number of other paintings produced by other artists having this same title.
Artwork Details
- Title: Castles in Spain (Chateaux en Espagne)
- Artist: Alexander Harrison (1853–1930)
- Date: by 1882
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 37 3/8 x 73 3/4 in. (94.9 x 187.3 cm)
- Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, 1912
- Object Number: 12.226
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
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