The Swing

The Swing is the most famous painting from the career of French Rococo artist, Jean-Honore Fragonard, and resides in the prestigious London art gallery of the Wallace Collection.

The Swing is better known as Les Hasards Heureux de l'Escarpolette in Fragonard's native France but this beautiful oil painting has become much loved all over the world, so most know it as The Swing. Fragonard is a famous Rococo painter from France whose paintings were elaborate and colourful, with many fans still studying his career in detail today.

The Swing has a charmingly classic style which attracts many in an instant, and helps to promote the Rococo period of art which remains relatively lesser known when compared to other art movements such as impressionism or cubism. A gallery incudes further paintings from his career, all of which follow a similar style as painters at that time were not as experimental as they are today. The male figures in the painting make it a seemingly romantic painting where others struggle for the attention of this pure young lady who casually looks down towards them.

The Swing original painting measures 81cm × 64.2cm (31in × 25 in) and can be viewed in all it's glory at that Wallace Collection in London, where it remains one of the major draws and was recently used for advertisements of the gallery which were displayed all over London. It's immediate visual impact made it an obvious choice for inclusion. It's original title was Les Hasards Heureux de l'Escarpolette, and this is how French art followers will still refer to it as.

It is believed that one of the men in the painting was the husband of the female on the Swing, whilst the other was someone with whom she was having an affair. Interestingly, Fragonard was not initially chosen to make this oil painting, but was brought in by Gabriel François Doyen who did not approve of the specification himself. The Swing is the central focus of this painting, as a young lady relaxes on it amongst an attractive brackdrop which gives the painting a mystical finish. The area around The Swing is far more colourful than it's background meaning that the viewer will immediately be drawn to the key parts of the work, as Fragonard will have intended.

Others happily buy print reproductions of his original paintings, and The Swing is Fragonard's best known painting as well as most popular. This website brings you information on this great painting and offers it for sale from a trusted online retailer who we regularly use ourselves. Further prints are available from the Fragonard gallery. The Swing above is an excellent choice for most homes with framed prints normally finishing the reproduction in the most professional way possible. The Art.com gallery that we link to from this page offers excellent framing services, with a great range of choice available. Fragonard is one of the most respected Rococo artists and has left a great legacy with several other paintings also as impressive as The Swing.