The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Study for “In the Woods, Evening”

1892–94

Alexandre Séon

(French, 1855–1917)
France, 19th century
colored pencils on beige laid paper
Sheet: 35.3 x 23 cm (13 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2019.77
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This drawing relates to a painting that was exhibited to critical acclaim at the 1894 Société nationale des Beaux-Arts—an important avant-garde exhibition—but is lost today.

Description

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.
  • ?-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
  • Bouyer, Raymond. “Le Bilan des deux salons.” L’Ermitage 5 (1894). Mentioned: p. 348 (discussion of related painting)
    Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Catalogue Illustré des ouvrages…exposés au Champ-de-Mars. Paris: Georges Petit, 1894. Mentioned: p. xxvii; Reproduced: p. 38 (mention of related painting)
    Malterre, Félix. “Salon du Champ de Mars.” Nouvelle revue international 26 (1894) Mentioned: p. 699 (discussion of related painting)
    “Au Salon du Champ-de-Mars.” L’Express du Midi (June 11, 1894). Mentioned: n.p. (discussion of related painting)
    Jumeau-Lafond, Jean-David. Alexandre Séon (1855-1917): La Beauté idéale. Exh. Cat. Quimper: Musée des Beaux Arts, 2015. Mentioned: p. 267 (discussion of printed reproduction of drawing)
    1525–1929: Paintings, Drawings & Sculptures. Brussels: Eric Gillis Fine Art, 2016. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 22
    Salsbury, Britany. Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 170-171, no. 34
    Parisi, Francesco. "Variazioni e Analogie del Paessaggio Simbolista tra Parigi, Bruges e Roma." In Hammershøi E I Pittori Del Silenzio Tra Il Nord Europa E l’Italia, edited by Paolo Bolpagni, 82-99. Milano: Dario Cimorelli Editore, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 86-89, fig. 2
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=Study for “In the Woods, Evening”|url=false|author=Alexandre Séon|year=1892–94|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.77