The Valley of the Seine 1910

Rose O'Neill painted "The Valley of the Seine" to capture a landscape in France. O'Neill was a woman working at the turn of the century, a time when Impressionism had taken hold. The painting is awash with light, as the rolling hills and trees of the French countryside are captured in soft brushstrokes and diffused colors. This wasn't necessarily the kind of work expected from O’Neill. She was a complex woman, known for her feminist views and her creation of the Kewpie characters, those cherubic figures who became a sensation. O'Neill once said, "I made up my mind long ago to have quite a different life from anyone else that I knew." We can consider how O'Neill, an American woman, saw and represented the French landscape, bringing her own sensibilities to a genre often dominated by male perspectives. The painting offers a moment of peace, yet it also subtly challenges the viewer to consider the artist's unique position and vision.