Artwork
Women Sewing at a Table
Women Sewing at a Table is an oil painting by the Symbolist artist Eugène Carrière. It dates from 1898 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
For Eugène Carrière, whose work is associated with Symbolist and Intimist tendencies, such an unremarkable subject carried deeper resonance.
Women Sewing at a Table depicts two women engaged in the act of sewing at a table, a quiet domestic scene rendered in oil on canvas. The subject of women performing needlework was a familiar motif in late nineteenth-century European painting, where it often signified the dignity of everyday labor, the intimacy of the domestic interior, and the contemplative stillness of routine tasks.
For Eugène Carrière, whose work is associated with Symbolist and Intimist tendencies, such an unremarkable subject carried deeper resonance. Sewing served as a vehicle for exploring introspection and the shared, unspoken bonds between figures absorbed in a common task, transforming a banal activity into a meditation on presence, patience, and inner life.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil on canvas, with the support measuring 26 cm in height and 38.1 cm in width. The handling is characterized by Carrière’s signature sfumato, where softly blended tones create a muted, atmospheric effect that dissolves sharp contours and emphasizes quiet, domestic intimacy. The composition centers on two women engaged in sewing, rendered with a restricted palette dominated by earthy browns, grays, and whites that evoke both the subdued light of an interior and the quiet rhythm of labor.
The loose, atmospheric brushwork contributes to an overall tonality that subdues individual features, aligning with the artist’s broader Symbolist and early modernist concerns.
History & Provenance
Eugène Carrière created the oil-on-canvas painting Women Sewing at a Table in 1894. The work measures 26 cm in height and 38.1 cm in width. It currently resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is identified as a depiction of women engaged in sewing.
No specific details regarding the original commission, the initial owner, or the subsequent ownership chain leading to the museum are provided in the available records.
Overview
This oil painting, titled Women Sewing at a Table, was created by Eugène Carrière in 1898. It presents a scene of several figures engaged in needlework around a table. The artwork is currently part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, offering a glimpse into Carrière's distinctive approach to figural compositions at the turn of the 20th century.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Eugène Anatole Carrière was a French Symbolist artist of the fin-de-siècle period.
- Woman by a Fireplace
Dancer at Rest
Woman Floating in a River Attended by Several Female Spirits
Croquis de femme nue, la tête contre l'oreiller (1ère plance) (Sketch of a Nude Woman, Her Head Against a Pillow) (1st plate)
Sur le lit (On the Bed)
After the Bath: Woman Drying Herself
After the Bath (La sortie du bain (Grand planche))
Reclining Female Nude (recto); Architectural Design (verso)
Intimité (Privacy)
After the Bath (Large Version)
Woman Waking Up in Bed (Femme Couchée, Réveil)
Untitled