After marrying the painter Thomas Wilmer Dewing when she was 36, Maria Oakey Dewing abandoned portraiture and began cultivating floral masterpieces on canvas and in her extensive gardens.

The conventions of Oriental art--especially its asymmetrical arrangements, diagonal compositions, and abrupt croppings--inspired much of Dewing's work, including Garden in May. But she adds her own point of view in this painting--that of the gardener bending down to the level of the fragrant blooms and sweet earth.

Courtesy of the National Museum of American Art, gift of John Gellatly.