Woman Ironing

Pablo Picasso

1901 · Oil on canvas, mounted on cardboard · Modern and Contemporary Art

Laundresses were famously the subject of Honoré Daumier, who was given a large exhibition in Paris in 1901. They were also painted by Edgar Degas, although very few of his works were displayed publicly in Paris at the turn of the century. Daumier's lithographs were passed around the studios of Barcelona, as were the few illustrated books on Degas's work. Picasso's laundress is much more abject than those of either of his French antecedents; the bleak mood of the painting recalls that found in the work of the Catalan painter Isidre Nonell. Picasso gave this painting to his friend Jaime Sabartés, a poet. Alfred Stieglitz, the New York photographer and art dealer, bought it in 1912.

Artist

Pablo Picasso

Date

1901

Medium

Oil on canvas, mounted on cardboard

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949