Alpine Pool

Artist:: John Singer Sargent (American, Florence 1856–1925 London)

Date:: 1907

Medium:: Oil on canvas

Dimensions:: 27 1/2 x 38 in. (69.9 x 96.5 cm)

Classification:: Paintings

Credit Line:: Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 1950

Accession Number:: 50.130.15

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 770

Sargent’s unflagging interest in the effects of sunlight was challenged by the motif of flowing water. In depicting a brook at Purtud, Italy, he adopted a close vantage point and directed his gaze downward to the shimmering water and the rocks and foliage along the banks. The result is a nearly abstract arrangement of form and color. One critic’s description of Sargent’s technique accords well with this composition: “It is astounding to note the almost magical skill by which the swift touches of his brush build up and express the infinite varieties of the surfaces and substances which he was painting.”

the artist, until died 1925; his sister, Violet Sargent (Mrs. Francis Ormond), London, 1925–1950

Essays
John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)

Timelines
The United States and Canada, 1900 A.D.–present

American Drawings and Watercolors in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: John Singer Sargent
American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1846 and 1864
"John Singer Sargent in The Metropolitan Museum of Art": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 57, no. 4 (Spring, 2000)

Department

American Paintings and Sculpture (5,301)

Artist / Maker / Culture

John Singer Sargent (661)

Object Type / Material

Canvas (4,639)

Oil paintings (2,970)

Paintings (12,948)