Youthful Thought

The painting has a hazy, transcendental quality, giving the sensation of a dream or vision.

The model for this painting was Point’s companion and muse, Hélène Linder.

She is posed in an attitude of peacefulness. Here the woman gazes of into the distance, caught in thought as she sits by a window. The purple cool tones reflecting the fresh morning breaking upon the horizon.

Armand Point

Armand Point (1860-1932) was a French painter, engraver and designer. Born in Algeria to a French father and a Spanish mother, Point started by depicting orientalist scenes of street life in Algeria before enlisting with colonial troops in 1881 where he continued his practice, exhibiting in the Paris Salon exhibition of painting and sculpture at the Palais des Champs-Élysée in 1882, 1883 and 1884.

Upon travelling to Paris in 1888 Point studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Auguste Herset and Fernand Cormon. Through out his career Point was associated with the symbolist movement and became one of the leading founders of the Salon de la Rose + Croix, a series of six art and music salons across Paris in the 1890s.  However, in 1894, on a trip to Italy, Point's artistic practice shifted towards Idealism. Already influenced by the British Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, the work of Ruskin as well as his involvement in one of the first Nabis groups, Point shifted his style after seeing Botticelli's Primivera. Soon after this Point attempted to create a movement in France to re-establish the artistic styles of 15th and 16th century such as that of Realism and Mannerism, drawing inspiration from classical idealism such as from the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

By the late 1890's Point had returned to full fledged symbolism, making a determined effort to reject modernism and the realism of Zola and Courbet who exemplified the oppressive naturalism that they rejected.

From 1896 to 1901 Point founded the Artelier de Haute-Claire. At the time the distinction between the fine and decorative arts had begun to break down, creating a new found interest for applied arts that harked back to the craftmanship of the Middle Ages such as that of William Morris as a response to growing industrialisation. While the work was criticised by Symbolist journal such as L'Ermitage for the groups use of classical religious icons which were believed to be unrepresentative with the France of the period, supporters of the group included Oscar Wilde who visited while in exile from England before his death.

Exhibitions
Paris Salon 1882
Paris Salon 1883
Paris Salon 1884
Paris Salon 1888
Paris Salon 1889
Galerie Georges Petit, 1889
Paris Salon 1904
Paris Salon 1905
Paris Salon 1906
Paris Salon 1908

Museums
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Peggy Guggenheim, Venice
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Musee des Arts decoratifs, Paris