DISCOVERART

Milton Avery

The Nursemaid

1934
Oil on canvas
121.9 × 81.3 cm (48 × 32 in)

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● On view now — Collection Gallery, Room 03, South Wall

Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia · verified July 2026

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FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

One possible setting for this picture is Coney Island; it is similar to another painting, Sitters by the Sea , which is thought to have been inspired by scenes Avery observed there. Stylistically, the picture marks a shift in Avery's career toward flattened forms and blocky fields of color that would influence later generations of American abstract painters like Mark Rothko. Dr. Barnes purchased The Nursemaid during a visit to Avery's first one-man show at the Valentine Gallery in New York City in March 1935.

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