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Featured artwork / AA—001

A wave holds a
moment still.

Object record
Open for reading

The Wave by William-Adolphe Bouguereau — FIELD VIEW / 01Light study

Painting / Marine subject

Bouguereau's
The Wave

A figure braces against the shore as a blue-green wave curls behind her. The water moves; her gaze asks us to stay.

Date: 1896
Artist: William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Culture: France
Archive no.: AA—001

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Looking closer

How does a wave
hold a figure still?

This working record identifies the painting as William-Adolphe Bouguereau's The Wave, dated 1896. Its subject is simple: a figure, a shore, and a swell about to break.

Look at the tension between motion and poise. The curling water gives the image its title, but the backward glance turns the scene into a meeting with the viewer.

1896PaintedWilliam-Adolphe Bouguereau

Source recordIdentifiedWikimedia Commons

TodayReconsideredArchive field note

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How to explore

One object.
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ArtifactArchive starts with the thing itself, then opens out into its date, material, maker, journey, and the people who gave it meaning.

01See the objectBegin with the details you can actually see.
02Read the contextPlace it in time, culture, and human history.
03Follow the questionTake the next trail into film, research, or another object.

History isin the detail.

A wave holds amoment still.

Bouguereau'sThe Wave

How does a wavehold a figure still?

Find yourway in.

Start witha painting

Look forthe maker

Godeeper

The archivein motion.

One object.Many stories.