Through the Vines

This painting depicts the artist’s wife, Sarah (nicknamed Sadie), in a boat on the river Epte near Giverny, France. Sadie was also a painter and often chose props for her husband’s compositions and posed as his model. The Friesekes were part of a large group of American artists living in Giverny at the beginning of the twentieth century, drawn by the presence of the famed French Impressionist Claude Monet. Frieseke occasionally depicted interior scenes with richly patterned fabrics and wallpaper, but preferred to paint his female models outdoors. Though Through the Vines is an outdoor scene, Frieseke creates an intimate space around his subject by framing her with dangling foliage, which compresses the space within the picture.