1878
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Dominant colour
The Laundress is a 1878 oil by Auguste Renoir, a Impressionism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
The painting shows a woman doing laundry. She's sitting in a quiet space, lost in thought. This scene is interesting because Renoir's model, Nini Lopez, was a regular subject in his work, and he painted her during a time when he was exploring scenes of everyday life. Check out the work of artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir for more scenes of ordinary people in peaceful moments.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s model for The Laundress was Nini Lopez, whom he painted regularly between 1874 and 1880 in his scenes of modern life. He made this canvas shortly after completing the illustrations for Émile Zola’s L’Assommoir ( The Drunkard ), a gritty novel about the downfall of a laundress in the brutal and degrading world of working-class Paris. Unlike those illustrations , this painting lacks any portrayal of backbreaking labor or social oppression. Renoir chose instead to visually reference the 19th-century stereotype of laundresses being promiscuous, signaled in this and other…
The artist (d. 1919); possibly sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 15, 1882 [per Durand-Ruel Archives, Paris, stock book for 1880–84 (no. 2464), and for 1891 (no. 1520), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object file]; sold to Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Aug. 3, 1905, for 8,500 francs [per Durand-Ruel Archives, Paris, stock book 1901 (no. 1520), as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 5, 2010, curatorial object…
Paris, Galeries Durand-Ruel, Exposition A. Renoir, May 1892, cat. 8, as Laveuse. Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Worcester Collection, July 24–Sept. 23, 1923, no cat. Toledo Museum of Art, Paintings by French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Nov. 7–Dec. 12, 1937, cat. 30 (ill.). New York, Wildenstein, Renoir: A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the American Association of Museums in Commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Renoir’s Death, Mar. 27–May 3, 1969, cat. 37 (ill.). Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings by Renoir, Feb. 3–Apr. 1, 1973, cat. 31 (ill.). Atlanta,…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born on 25 February 1841 in Limoges, the son of a tailor and a seamstress.
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