The Swing
c. 1775/1780
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 215.9 × 185.5 cm (85 × 73 1/16 in.) framed: 246.38 × 215.9 × 16.51 cm (97 × 85 × 6 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Accession Number
1961.9.17
Art Historical Context
Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s *The Swing*, painted around 1775–1780, exemplifies the graceful spirit of late-eighteenth-century French art. Working in the Rococo tradition, Fragonard favored luminous color, fluid brushwork, and compositions that celebrate movement and delight. The painting’s impressive scale—over two meters tall—allows viewers to feel immersed in its airy world, a quality made possible by the artist’s skillful use of oil on canvas, a medium prized for its rich glazes and ability to capture delicate textures of silk, foliage, and light. Created just before the French Revolution, wor...
About the Artist
Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1732–1806
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. Born in Grasse, he moved to Paris where he trained under Jean-Baptiste Chardin and François Boucher, winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1752. After studying in Italy alongside Hubert Robert, Fragonard returned to Paris in 1761 to fi...