Woman Sewing

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

A rosy, diaphanous veil appears to be cast over this nearly monochromatic canvas. Renoir frequently painted solitary women absorbed in domestic activities such as sewing, as seen here, and knitting, and he often set them against a vague background. This type of portraiture of women at work pays homage to the real-life activities illustrated in 17th-century Dutch genre painting. At the same time, for Renoir there is always an ideal at work. As gender roles became increasingly destabilized in France, paintings such Woman Sewing reassert a traditional vision of feminine domesticity.

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