Summer 1909

Frank Benson painted this Impressionist work titled “Summer,” sometime during his career in the late 19th and early 20th century. The painting captures a scene of leisure, depicting four women in white dresses on a grassy hill overlooking the sea. The attire of the women places them in the upper echelons of society, where their lives would be dictated by social expectations and gender norms. The fact that the women are not actively engaged in domestic activities is somewhat subversive and the painting could be seen as a celebration of female companionship and freedom. The women's gaze towards the sea evokes a sense of yearning and possibility, which stands in contrast to the restricted roles often assigned to women of that era. Benson’s depiction is less about the individual women and more about evoking a mood, a feeling, an atmosphere. “Summer” captures a fleeting moment of respite and reflection, inviting viewers to contemplate the complexities of identity, desire, and agency within a specific socio-historical context.