Armand Seguin, along with Gauguin, was one of the pioneers of the Pont-Aven School. He made this work in 1896, in Paris, when his artistic creation was slowing down and his economic income was scarce. He wrote to Roderic O'Conor on March 26, 1896: “[…] I am working a lot right now. Alas, still confused by the memories, by what others have done before me, but all the great masters have had this feeling; what amuses me and interests me most now is the beauty of the nude. Then his body is wonderful, with a great purity of line and a color of the flesh to lick […] ”.

The composition, on a landscape background reminiscent of Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe, represents a three-quarter nude of a woman seated on an unrolled fabric in the meadow in the foreground. This painting was acquired by the artist during his lifetime by the influential art critic Arsène Alexandre. The painting was later acquired by Maurice Denis.

© Procolor - Laurent Bruneau