Description
Year of creation: 1870s
Original size: 21 cm x 15 cm
Painting style: Impressionism
Original technique: Oil on canvas
Located: MuMa Musée d’art moderne André Malraux, Le Havre (inv. DA 61.98)
The canvas is tiny, barely the size of a hand, and yet two heads stand on it at life size. The washerwoman on the left is seen in profile, turned to the right; a pale cloth is drawn over her dark hair and her clothing is dark.
The one on the right has lighter, loosened hair and a tilted head, her cheek resting on a raised hand. Her eyes are half closed. That single gesture says everything about the length of the working day, and Degas added nothing to it.
The ground behind is only a pale grey-white, quickly smeared, without a room and without objects. The paint is thin and lets the canvas show through in places. The signature is at the upper right. The work belongs to the Musée d’Orsay and is shown at Le Havre.
Our version is a hand-painted oil painting on canvas. Each canvas is made individually, in the size and frame you choose.
