A close acquaintance of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (Puvis de Chavannes was best man at Alphonse Osbert's wedding in 1894), and friends with Georges Seurat since student days, Osbert's style meld the calm meditative influence of both artists with a distinctly Symbolist aesthetic. Exhibiting frequently across Europe, he participated in a show with Maurice Denis at Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, and with the Nabis at Le Barc de Boutteville in 1891. Osbert also exhibited in all the Rose + Croix exhibitions from 1892 onwards, and remained its most loyal contributor.
Conceived as allegories of the path of the human life cycle, the present work is a study for a commission Osbert received in 1911 to provide the backdrop to marriage ceremonies at the Town Hall of La Bourg-la-Reine. Osbert realized two large allegorical canvases, placed on either side of a fireplace that has now disappeared: Vers le Passé (Towards the Past) and Vers L’Avenir (Towards the Future), of which the present work is a version in watercolor.
The composition centers on an intertwined male and female figure standing motionless below a looming tree. Their statuesque, alabaster limbs evoke inspired by Ancient Greek sculptures. Soft, diffused light bathes their bodies with colorful shadows, imparting the scene with a haunting, dreamlike quality.
Right: Alphonse Osbert, Vers L’Avenir, 1912 © Musée d'Orsay (RF1992-25)
In 1991, a number of comparable studies were gifted to the Musée d’Orsay by Yolande Osbert, the artist’s daughter.