The Laundresses (Les Blanchisseuses)

In the 1800s, many artists began to depict the lives of people who worked with their hands for a living. In The Laundresses, Edgar Degas depicts women working and resting in a dank, melancholic space. In the left foreground, one rests, warming herself near a stove with a pyramidal top used to warm irons. At the lower right are large bundles of laundry. In the middle ground, two women work at the ironing board. In an adjacent room in the background, two woman stand in the shadows. In the far room, through the opening above the ironing board, we may be seeing steam rising from the washtubs. Shadowy garments hang to dry from lines above. Degas reused a copper plate on which Mary Cassatt had previously made an aquatint. Most, if not all, of the aquatint in the image was made by her. Degas worked on the plate through four successive states. This impression is from the fourth state. Mia’s collection also includes the first state (accession number P.75.44). Compare the two to see how Degas changed in his image.