La Toilette

Artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824 - 1898)

Datec. 1878-1883

MediumOil on millboard

Dimensions32.5 × 24 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineSir Hugh Lane Bequest, 1917, The National Gallery, London. In partnership with Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin.

Object number3267

DescriptionThe theme of a woman at her toilette was one that clearly appealed greatly to Puvis de Chavannes as the large number of representations of this subject attest. This particular sketch relates to a larger painting of 1883, which is in the Musee d'Orsay. The motif of a semi-clad woman having her hair combed was a major one for fellow French artist, Edgar Degas. However, both artists divested their works of the traditional narratives normally associated with paintings of unclothed women at their toilette such as the mythological goddess of love, Venus or the biblical Esther.

In this small, tightly focused work, the two figures are standing and seen in close up. There is very little perspective recession, reminiscent of Italian primitive wall paintings, which the artist admired. The figures are placed in a simple uncluttered space and the simple contours and subdued colour scheme contributes to the overall atmosphere of serenity and intimacy created by this painting. There is no sense of connection between the main female figure, who appears engrossed in her own thoughts, and the secondary female figure and is not as technically finished as the woman having her hair combed.

Puvis de Chavannes achieved great fame in the second half of the nineteenth century through his mural paintings many of which can be found in public buildings in France.

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