William Bouguereau At the Edge of the Brook Painting

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Collection of Fred and Sherry Ross, USA

This painting is one of the most sensitive single figures ever painted. Hauntingly enigmatic, but kind and beautiful, this young peasant girl's childhood innocence blends seamlessly with the emerging woman who rivets your eyes to hers. She stares directly at you with a serene kindness imbued with goodness and trust. Inherent is the moral imperative not to betray that trust. This is a prime example of Bouguereau's unique ability to capture every subtle nuance of personality and mood.

Symbolically she sits by "The Edge of the River". She sits at perhaps the greatest crossroads in life as she prepares to enter the adult world. Her hands and legs are crossed symbolically as are the trunks of the trees behind her. She wears a humanistic halo of vibrant red flowers alluding to the spirituality inherent in youth.
This masterpiece was the poster painting for the 1984 William Bouguereau retrospective that traveled from Paris' Petite Palais, to the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, and finally to Hartford's Wadsworth Athenaeum.