Cleveland Museum of Art

Woman Ironing

Édouard Vuillard

Date

1892

Medium

oil on board

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Modern European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This spare painting depicts a woman ironing a garment, while a sliver of light illuminates the side of her face and the cup held in her left hand. The subject belongs to a series of paintings of women ironing or sewing inspired by Édouard Vuillard’s close observation of his mother and sister making corsets and dresses in their crowded Parisian apartment. In 1888, Vuillard wrote in his journal: "A form or a color exists only in relation to another. Form does not exist on its own. We can only conceive of the relations."

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