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Time after time, Szinyei returned to the theme of a party relaxing in the outdoors, proceeding systematically from the sketches made for his first plein-air painting in 1867 to the final version of "Picnic in May", "Lovers" also forms part of this process: a colourful group, in this case two people, is shown on a hillside. Instead of the previously preferred gardens at springtime, now the early summer meadows are chosen as scenery. In the evenly dispersed light the pale local colours are harmoniously adjusted to one another. This gentle colouration establishes the lyric, effect of the picture. The interlocking eyes, the masterly execution of the hands, the softly curling outlines within the closed composition and the dreamlike background all contribute to the intimate atmosphere of the painting.
The fine Naturalism of the picture reminds the viewer of Bastien-Lepage's Haymaking (1877, Paris, Musée d'Orsay). This is interesting from the point of view that around 1890 the Nagybánya painters, who could be regarded as Szinyei's followers, were all enthusiastic about this particular French painter, yet at the time they still could not have seen the early works of Szinyei, which were held in America. This meant that the contimuity of Hungarian painting suffered a setback.
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