Artwork
The Green Sofa
The Green Sofa is an oil painting by the Regionalist artist Anne Goldthwaite. It dates from 1935 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
A green sofa anchors a domestic interior that Anne Goldthwaite painted in oil around 1935. The Montgomery-born artist, who taught at the Art Students League of New York for twenty-three years, signed it at lower right. The Metropolitan Museum of Art received it in 1944 as a gift from her estate.
Subject & Meaning
The presence of the infant and the woman's state of sleep and undress evoke themes of maternal care, vulnerability, and everyday life.
The painting is a genre scene depicting a woman and an infant on a green couch. The woman is topless and asleep, with a stocking and undergarment nearby, suggesting an intimate, domestic moment. The presence of the infant and the woman's state of sleep and undress evoke themes of maternal care, vulnerability, and everyday life.
The striped pattern of the couch adds visual texture. As a genre work, it captures a private scene of motherhood and rest.
Technique & Style
The Green Sofa is an oil painting on canvas, a genre and figurative work. The support is canvas, and the medium is oil paint. The painting measures 76.2 by 49.5 cm and adopts a horizontal composition that emphasizes the reclining figures of a woman and infant on a couch.
Depicted elements include a striped couch, a stocking, an undergarment, the woman's toplessness, and a state of sleep, reinforcing an intimate domestic moment. Stylistically, the work is naturalistic and belongs to genre painting, though the sources provide no specific details on brushwork, handling, or condition.
Overview
Anne Goldthwaite's painting, The Green Sofa, created around 1935, depicts a domestic interior. Executed in oil on canvas, this work exemplifies her focus on everyday life and regional American scenes during the later period of her career. Measuring approximately 30 by 36 inches, it bears the artist's signature in the lower right corner. This piece offers insight into the artist's mature style and preferred subject matter.
Context
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1869, Anne Goldthwaite initially trained at New York's National Academy of Design. Her artistic development was significantly shaped by several years spent in Paris, where she engaged with the avant-garde circle of Gertrude Stein and encountered the innovations of artists like Matisse and Cézanne. Returning to the United States, she exhibited in the influential 1913 Armory Show and taught at the Art Students League of New York for over two decades.
History & Provenance
The Green Sofa entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1944. The institution received the painting as a gift from Anne Goldthwaite's estate, shortly after her death. It is now housed within The American Wing, where it contributes to the museum's holdings of early 20th-century American art. This acquisition reflects the recognition of Goldthwaite's contribution to American painting.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Anne Goldthwaite was an American painter and printmaker and an advocate of women's rights and equal rights.
