The Great Laundry Boat at Charenton Bridge (Le Grand Bateau-Lavoir du Pont de Charenton)
c. 1897–1903
Oil on canvas
46 × 55.4 cm (18.1 × 21.8 in)
SEE IT IN PERSON
● On view now — Collection Gallery, Room 11, East Wall
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia · verified July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG
In his landscapes of Paris and its environs, Rousseau favored unremarkable views rather than the city's popular attractions. Upon first glance, this painting appears to be a straightforward record of a laundry boat and fishermen. Closer examination reveals the odd scale of the figures in the boats, who are tiny compared with the figure on the bank. The artist's imaginative jungle compositions and strange city scenes like this one made him popular with Parisian avant-garde.
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