Alack the Day

Interpret Shakespeare's verse in light of these stunning artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The character Dumaine has the following lines in the play Love's Labor's Lost. Do you think he refers to flowers or a person? Which painting do you think best corresponds with this excerpt? Write and let us know at 1001days@si.edu!

On a day—alack the day—
Love, whose month is ever May,
Spied a blossom passing fair
Playing in the wanton air.

—William Shakespeare

Pictured top: Alice Pike Barney, 1857–1931, In Sunlight, about 1910, oil on fiberboard, 11 3/8 x 5 5/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Laura Dreyfus Barney and Natalie Clifford Barney in memory of their mother, Alice Pike Barney.

Pictured bottom: William H. Johnson, 1901–1970, Mountain Blossoms, Volda, about 1936–1937, oil on burlap, 25 x 29 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation.