Figures on the Beach

Painted around the time of his pivotal trip to Paris in 1907, the present work depicts a stunning coastal scene executed with the lively brushwork and mastery of color that established Maurice Prendergast as a leading watercolorist of the 20th Century. Considered the first American to champion the art of Cézanne in America, Prendergast found profound inspiration in the work of the Post-Impressionist masters which, despite his self-taught background, played a significant role in his painting career from 1907 onward, as indicated by the present work.

Figures on the Beach was originally owned by Lillie P. Bliss, an avid proponent and collector of modern art. Alongside Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Mary Quinn Sullivan, Bliss founded New York's Museum of Modern Art, where she endowed a large part of her collection following her death.