The Return of Spring

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The Return of Spring: William-Adolphe Bouguereau

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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William-Adolphe Bouguereau Oil Painting - The Return of Spring

Keywords: Return, Spring

Work Overview: The Return of Spring
French: Le Printemps
Artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Year 1886
Medium oil on canvas
Dimensions 201.3 cm × 117.8 cm (79.3 in × 46.4 in)
Location Joslyn Art Museum

The Return of Spring (French: Le Printemps) is a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau created in 1886. It is among the more well-known of his works. It is currently in the collection of the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, and was acquired in 1951 as the gift of Francis T. B. Martin. The painting was brought to Omaha shortly after it was completed by George W. Lininger.[1] Lininger was an art collector and private gallery owner who routinely opened his gallery to the public for no charge.[1]

The painting was physically attacked twice - in 1890 and in 1976. Both times, damages were minimal. The attackers were offended by the painting's overtly sensual nudity.

A replica of the painting appeared in the ballroom scene at the Beaufort home in the 1993 film, The Age of Innocence (though the film takes place in the 1870s, years before the painting was created).

Few artists embody the ideals of French Academic painting as perfectly as does Bouguereau. This industrious artist covered a variety of themes in his work, ranging from sober Biblical stories to wild bacchanals, peasant girls, and portraits, all depicted in a smooth, seamless style. His impeccable craft and ability to combine realism with idealized form won him many admirers and a long list of honors. As a teacher at the Académie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Bouguereau was a revered taskmaster and leader of establishment forces against the innovations of modernism.

In Return of Spring, all the qualities that won Bouguereau acclaim are fully apparent. Plainly referring to Raphael’s famous Galatea, the waking nymph is clearly drawn and modeled to a porcelain-like finish. The three trios of cupids that whirl around her in a garland of flying flesh are exercises in anatomical virtuosity, showing essentially the same figure in a variety of poses. Bouguereau pronounced himself “really thrilled with this . . . painting; the attitude and expression of the young woman are, I think, exactly right.” Not everyone shared this view, and some critics accused the painter of “academic formalism, empty of blood and emotion” when the painting was first exhibited in 1886. It has aroused stronger emotions than that on two separate occasions in Omaha. In 1890 and again in 1976 it was attacked by individuals who clearly found the nudity altogether too realistic.

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William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Work Overview