Artwork
A Woman Ironing
A Woman Ironing is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Edgar Degas. It dates from 1873 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Rather than idealizing the subject, the work presents a candid view of domestic labor, emphasizing the physical reality of the laundress's profession.
Executed in 1873, this oil painting depicts a solitary woman engaged in the laborious act of ironing clothes. The composition focuses entirely on the figure and her task, using a clothes iron as the central attribute of her trade. Rather than idealizing the subject, the work presents a candid view of domestic labor, emphasizing the physical reality of the laundress's profession.
The iconography is stripped of allegorical embellishment, grounding the image in the mundane details of nineteenth-century urban life. By isolating the woman amid her tools, the painting conveys the dignity and exhaustion inherent in manual labor within the Impressionist milieu.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on canvas, a medium Degas used to achieve subtle tonal modulation. The painting measures 54.3 × 39.4 cm and was created in 1873, reflecting the artist's interest in scenes of domestic labor. Degas combines loose, atmospheric handling in the background with more precise, linear detailing in the figure's hands and the iron, producing a contrast between open space and meticulous attention to the woman's activity.
History & Provenance
A Woman Ironing was painted by Edgar Degas in 1873. It was later shown at the second Impressionist exhibition, and by 1897 had entered the collection of Louisine Havemeyer, who bequeathed it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The work, in oil on canvas and measuring 54.3 cm by 39.4 cm, is held there under accession number 29.100.46. It depicts a woman engaged in the act of ironing clothes.
Overview
Edgar Degas's A Woman Ironing, executed in 1873, depicts a laundress bent over a table, engaged in the repetitive labor of pressing garments. The composition captures the figure in a moment of physical exertion, with her body angled forward and her hands actively manipulating the iron. Degas employs a loose, rapid brushwork that conveys the immediacy of the scene and the fatigue of the worker.
Light enters from a window behind the subject, creating a strong backlight that casts her silhouette against the wall and highlights the steam rising from the fabric. The dark tones of her dress contrast sharply with the pale surroundings, emphasizing her isolation within the domestic space. This work is a significant example of Degas's fascination with modern Parisian life and the working class, themes he explored extensively during the 1870s.
It reflects his interest in capturing candid, unposed moments of daily existence, moving away from idealized historical narratives toward a more observational realism. The painting exemplifies his ability to find dignity and structural complexity in mundane activities, contributing to the broader Impressionist movement's shift toward contemporary subject matter.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas on 19 July 1834 in Paris, Edgar Degas came from an affluent banking family with aristocratic roots and spent his childhood among the cultivated circles of the French capital.
