A Washerwoman at Eragny

The Theme: At first, Pissarro’s primary interest was in landscape, but later, from about 1880, he began to paint either its female inhabitants or a combination of the two subjects. The domestic tasks the artist most often illustrated are needlework, sewing, and mending, which more often took place indoors, and laundry women washing clothes by hand while kneeling beside a stream or standing over wooden tubs. According to Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts (2005), Pissarro depicted laundresses eight times. A much larger number of his pictures show women laboring outdoors in fields or kitchen gardens.

The Painting: Early in 1884 Pissarro had moved from L'Hermitage to Eragny, a quiet village on the Epte River (the population in 2020 was less than six hundred), where he spent the balance of his life. Shortly thereafter, he began to explore the more scientific approach to painting advocated by the young Georges Seurat. That style, Pointillism, involved placing side by side tiny dots of pure, unmixed color which would resolve into a legible image when seen from a distance (see, for example, Seurat 2002.62.3). By 1893, Pissarro’s commitment to the Pointillist system had loosened, and his manner was more relaxed, but the influence of Seurat may still be felt here in the flurry of color. There are passages of white in the sky and the laundry, and a vibrant yellow is used for the large flowers with red centers, but, otherwise, the facture when examined closely looks mesh-like: the mixing and layering are complex, with a reliance on pink and green. While many areas look worked over, at the top and bottom edges some canvas is left bare. The laundress, in profile, head inclined, leans into the wooden wash tub on her forward foot, with her hands in the water. The multiple colors of her apron contrast with black slippers and stockings. The large tub and a smaller one for rinsing stand on legs so that they are easier to reach. Indistinguishable items of cloth hang from the rims, and water pools on the ground below and seeps toward the lower right corner. Beyond the trees and hedge, a wall and the pitched roofs of houses provide a sense of enclosure, and above is a sliver of sky.

Katharine Baetjer 2022

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): C.Pissarro.93

[Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1893–97; bought from the artist December 16 for Fr 1,200; stock no. 2887; sold March 30, 1897 to Durand-Ruel, New York]; [Durand-Ruel, New York, 1897–1956; stock no. 1795; sold in April 1956 to Salz]; [Sam Salz, New York, 1956; sold in May to Rodgers]; Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rodgers, New York (1956–64; his life interest, 1964–d. 1972; her life interest, 1964–d. 1992)

Paris. Galeries Durand-Ruel. "Exposition Camille Pissarro," March 3–21, 1894, no. 29 (as "Laveuse," lent by M. Durand-Ruel).

Copley Hall, Copley Society of Boston. "Loan Collection of Pictures of Fair Children," 1901, no. 103 (as "Laveuse," lent by Messrs. Durand-Ruel, New York, possibly this picture) [see Snollaerts 2005].

Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "Music Makers," July 9–August 9, 1959, no. 12 (as "Washerwoman at Eragny," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rodgers).

New York. Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University. "Changes in Perspective: 1880–1925," May 2–June 2, 1978, unnumbered cat. (p. 10).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Neo-Impressionism: The Circle of Paul Signac," October 2–December 30, 2001, no catalogue.

Camille Pissarro. Letters to Lucien Pissarro. October 16 and December 15, 1893 [published in Janine Bailly-Herzberg, ed., "Correspondance de Camille Pissarro: Tome 3 / 1891–1894," Paris, 1988, pp. 386–87, no. 949, p. 410, no. 971], possibly refers to it as the "Femme au baquet" shown to Portier; later lists it as "Laveuse," sold for Fr 1,200 [to Durand-Ruel].

Ludovic Rodo Pissarro and Lionello Venturi. Camille Pissarro, son art—son œuvre. reprint ed. 1989. Paris, 1939, vol. 1, p. 201, no. 861; vol. 2, pl. 176, no. 861.

Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, p. 19, ill.

Anne Schirrmeister. Camille Pissarro. New York, 1982, pp. 14–15, colorpl. 11, cites it as an example of Pissarro's renewed interest in the figure in his late works; calls this scene a type of domestic "hortus conclusus"; remarks that the peasant "exemplifies Pissarro's ideal of the quiet joy and dignity of manual labor".

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 440, ill.

Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts in Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts. Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings. Milan, 2005, vol. 1, pp. 364–65, 392, 423; vol. 2, p. 308; vol. 3, pp. 653, 954, 958, no. 1010, ill. (color), notes that the theme of a woman washing clothes in a large wooden tub occurs in eight Pissarro paintings, including this one.