Artwork
Returning from the Spring
Returning from the Spring is an oil painting by the Orientalist artist Moustafa Farroukh. It dates from 1939 and is held in the collection of the Sursock Museum.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1939, *Returning from the Spring* is an oil painting by Lebanese artist Moustafa Farroukh, a prolific figure who produced more than two thousand works during the early twentieth century. The canvas captures a solitary female figure moving across a landscape that includes a distant mountain range, an open sky, and a spring source, and it now belongs to the Sursock Museum’s collection.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on a woman in a white headscarf and a dress patterned with flowers, carrying a sizable clay jar on her left arm while shielding her eyes with her right hand. The everyday activity suggested by the jar and her attire evokes themes of rural labor and the rhythms of seasonal water collection in a Levantine setting.
Technique & Style
Farroukh employs oil paint to render the scene with layered brushwork that gives the figures and background a tactile quality. The palette balances cool blues of the sky with earthy tones of the jar and terrain, while subtle modeling creates a sense of depth that aligns the work with the Orientalist tradition of depicting exoticized local life.
History & Provenance
The painting entered the holdings of the Sursock Museum, a key institution for Lebanese art, where it remains on display. Its acquisition reflects the museum’s commitment to preserving works by artists who shaped the nation’s visual culture during the interwar period.
Context
Farroukh’s oeuvre is closely associated with the Orientalist movement, which sought to portray Middle Eastern subjects for both local and European audiences. *Returning from the Spring* exemplifies his focus on everyday scenes, situating a personal narrative within the broader cultural landscape of Lebanon in the late 1930s.
Artist & collection
Artist
Moustafa Farroukh (Arabic: مصطفى فروخ; 1901 – 1957) was one of Lebanon's most prominent painters of the 20th century.
