Wonderment

Around 1900, Hornel began to use photography as a tool for his painting. He photographed the children who modelled for his work and would use the photographs as a basis for more than one work. Poses are thus often repeated in several paintings. The pose of the red headed girl in Wonderment is identical to that of a dark haired girl in another painting of the same year called Sea Shore Roses. In that painting there are 3 girls instead of 2 but they too are examining a butterfly. Like these girls they sit amongst pink roses with white flowers at their feet and the coastline behind them is identical to the one seen here. Hornel had by this stage intentionally started working in a style that had a wider appeal. The production of several very similar paintings is perhaps testimony to the demand that there was for these kind of works.