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Intimacy

1890
Not on view
Van Rysselberghe, a leading avant-garde artist active in Belgium at the end of the nineteenth century, made this drawing as an independent work while visiting Maria Sèthe, the woman shown sewing, and her mother at their rented summer house in Thuin, near the French border. The scene of quiet concentration also includes the artist’s wife reading at right. Inspired by the Pointillist paintings of Georges Seurat, Van Rysselberghe developed a drawing technique that involved applying small dashlike marks in varying densities to achieve the rich gradation of tone and luminous effects seen here. He exhibited this drawing with Les XX, the influential artists’ association in Brussels, of which he was a founding member.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Intimacy
  • Artist: Theo Van Rysselberghe (Belgian, Ghent 1862–1926 Saint Clair)
  • Date: 1890
  • Medium: Conté crayon; framing lines in conté crayon (or graphite?), by the artist
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 17 1/16 × 20 in. (43.4 × 50.8 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Walter and Leonore Annenberg Acquisitions Endowment Fund, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.386
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Portrait of Augustine de Rothmaler, Theo Van Rysselberghe Belgian, Black chalk on laid paper
Portrait of Augustine de Rothmaler
Theo Van Rysselberghe
1894
Maria Van Rysselberghe Arranging Her Hair before a Mirror, Theo Van Rysselberghe Belgian, Graphite with touches of pen and ink on laid paper
Maria Van Rysselberghe Arranging Her Hair before a Mirror
Theo Van Rysselberghe
1890
The Fishing Fleet (Flotille de Pêche), from "L'Estampe Originale", Theo Van Rysselberghe Belgian, Etching with aquatint in brown ink
The Fishing Fleet (Flotille de Pêche), from "L'Estampe Originale"
Theo Van Rysselberghe
André Marty
1894
Little Denise (Denise Maréchal, later Madame Georges Béart, 1883–1956), Theo Van Rysselberghe Belgian, Oil on canvas
Little Denise (Denise Maréchal, later Madame Georges Béart, 1883–1956)
Theo Van Rysselberghe
1889
Willow trees at a brook, Emilie Mediz-Pelikan Austrian, Colored wax crayon, conté crayon, watercolor, graphite, and gum arabic on machine-made wove paper
Willow trees at a brook
Emilie Mediz-Pelikan
1895

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