In the collection of Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia — check current display status with the museum.
FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG
This intensely colored and rapidly executed painting depicts four courtesans in an ambiguous setting. The demimonde was a popular subject in 19th-century art and literature, as artists and writers found in the subject a ready means to express their ideas about modernity. This painting's unusual square format and size suggest that it was trimmed or cut from a larger canvas. Despite the small size, the figures' wild gesticulations infuse the composition with a rhythmic energy that is barely contained by the boundaries of the canvas.
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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner — Nudes in Studio
Edgar Degas — A Group of Dancers
Edvard Munch — Two Seated Nudes
Edvard Munch — Nude in the Forest
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner — Four Wooden Sculptures
Vincent van Gogh — The Brothel (Le Lupanar)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner — Six Dancers
Édouard Manet — Masked Ball at the Opera
Paul Cezanne — The Battle of Love
Edvard Munch — Brothel Scene
Georges Rouault — Two Ballet Girls
Edgar Degas — Before the Performance
