The Ragpickers (Les Chiffonniers)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

Before the introduction of modern waste management, the streets of Paris often teemed with garbage. So-called ragpickers sifted through the urban detritus, scavenging for old fabric and other objects that could be resold. Bonnard depicts these denizens trudging along the muddy outskirts of the city. He separates his subjects from the throngs of city-dwellers in the background with an expanse of thick, sloppy brushstrokes. Isolated from the crowd, the ragpickers appear like outcasts, condemned to the liminal spaces of the metropolis.

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