After the
horrors of the Great War, Leroux returned each year to his haven, Rome. Amazingly, the horrors of the conflict did
not embitter his art forever … as it had for many. As can be seen here, Leroux returned to, and
embraced, life.
This is
actually quite an idyllic picture. The
youths bathe in the Tiber, kissed by the glorious Italian sunshine. Leroux depicts their nude bodies with a
wonderful innocence and forming a perfect triangle between the boat’s mast and
the diver.
Not
surprisingly, the one clothed figure is separated from the rest of the group
–and he looks on, perhaps feeling his exclusion. Perhaps Leroux is saying that happiness is
natural … the bathing suit is of a color with the man-made landscape in the
background.
I like
to think of Leroux in Italy, making beautiful things, cleansed after putting
the carnage of the Great War, with all of its pain and its horror, behind him.
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