Bathers (Summer Scene)

Young men bathe and lounge by a riverbank in dappled summer light, one wading in, another stretching out on the grass, their bodies caught in relaxed, modern poses. Frederic Bazille reworks the age-old theme of bathers into a contemporary scene of leisure, blending solid figure drawing with fresh outdoor color. Now at Harvard's museums, Bathers (Summer Scene) shows the gifted young painter bridging classical tradition and the emerging Impressionist interest in light and modern life - a sunlit, easy idyll by one of the movement's most promising talents, lost tragically young in war.