Read the visual description
The image portrays a low point of view with two figures in a landscape setting. The horizon is near the top with a band of blue and a golden hue above. The grass is vibrant and textured with loose, expressive brushstrokes in pastel tones and soft pencil outlines. The color palette includes soft greens, purples, and yellows, with the figures sketched in blue and purple. Close to us, two human figures are shown within tall grass or dunes; one kneels while the other stands with raised arms. Dense greenery frames the scene, emphasizing the interaction between humans and nature.
National Gallery of Art · Drawing
Bathers
Otto Mueller
- Medium
- pen and black ink and color crayons
- Dimensions
- overall: 37.5 x 50 cm (14 3/4 x 19 11/16 in.)
- Classification
- Drawing
- Accession number
- 1951.10.351
- Credit line
- Rosenwald Collection
- Time span
- 1851 to 1875
- Department
- CG-W
Subjects and terms
- German
- Standing
- group
- figure
- Nude
Provenance
Claude Schaefer [1913-2010], Montevideo, Uruguay; sold 1950 to Lessing J. Rosenwald; [1] gift 1950/1951 to the National Gallery of Art. [1] In _Recollections of a Collector_, 1976, p. 56-57, Rosenwald described being approached by a young man in South America who offered to sell his father’s collection of prints that he had brought with him from Germany. Rosenwald gives the year as 1951, but his appointment books confirm that it was actually 1950 - he left for Buenos Aires on 9 February 1950 and returned on 20 March 1950 (Library of Congress, Rosenwald Papers, Box 75). Rosenwald writes that he bought the entire collection of some 1100 prints and drawings, but as they had already been scheduled to be sent to Europe they came to the United States via Antwerp, arriving in the US in late April 1950. Rosenwald decided to keep about a quarter of the collection, destined for the National Gallery of Art, and donate the remainder to other institutions. The inventory log of Alverthorpe indicates that just over 300 works were accessioned there in May of 1950, inventory numbers 50.260-50.530, acquired from Claude Schaefer (Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, RG 45A1, Rosenwald Papers, Box 41).
Inscription
lower right in black crayon below image: Otto Muller; on verso stamped: JOSE LUIS BUSANICHE / ... / COMISION NACIONAL DE MUSEOS Y MONUMENTOS HISTORICOS
Marks
Verso, stamped in black ink: COMISION NACIONAL DE MUSEOS / Y MONUMENTOS HISTORICOS / JOSE LUIS BUSANICHE / SECRETARIO GENERALE
NGA object ID 40149. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.