Study for “In the Woods, Evening”

About the Artwork

In this drawing of nymphs holding lyres, Alexandre Séon hoped to depict, in his words, “the spirit of the forest.” He was inspired by fairy-tales he heard as a child about the woods near the remote village where he grew up. By applying colored pencils to a roughly textured sheet of paper, Séon evoked the hazy tones of twilight and gave the sheet a dreamlike tenor.

Inscriptions

inscribed, lower right, in blue pencil: Alex Séon; on verso, along top margin, in pencil: Alexandre SEON 1855–1917 / elève de Puvis de Chavannes ¬– la secheresse / de son dessin et sa stylization glacée, s’allient / à la tendresse de son couloris – / [4527]; on verso, on tape at right center, in pencil: 3

Exhibition history

Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).

Quick Overview

Artist: Alexandre Séon (French, 1855–1917)
Date: 1892–94
Medium: colored pencils on beige laid paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 35.3 x 23 cm (13 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
Accession no.: 2019.77

Provenance

?-2015: private collection, Brussels 2015-2016: (Eric Gillis Fine Art, Brussels) 2016-2018: Private Collection, New York 2018-2019: (Mireille Mosler., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 2019-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.