Image scanned from a transparency and color-corrected by Ed Pollard-2008.

The Artists' Wives

Artist James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902)

Date1885

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions57 1/2 × 40 in. (146.1 × 101.6 cm)
Overall, Frame: 69 1/4 × 51 3/4 × 5 in. (175.9 × 131.4 × 12.7 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., and The Grandy Fund, Landmark Communications Fund, and "An Affair to Remember" 1982

Object number81.153

Terms

Women
Wives
Painters
Men
Restaurants
White
Black
Red
Green
Violet
Navy blue
Brown
Maroon
Paris

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis oil on canvas painting depicts an outdoor scene/restaurant where artists and their wives have gathered, celebrating "le vernissage," or Varnishing Day. This day is on the eve of the official opening of the Salon; participating artists traditionally gathered to view the exhibition privately and put a final coat of protective varnish on the paintings. One of the wives, in a maroon print dress, looks directly at the viewer.

Label TextJames Jacques Joseph Tissot French, 1836–1902 The Artists’ Wives, 1885 Oil on canvas On the day before the opening of the annual Salon exhibition in France, artists applied a final coat of varnish to their pictures and adjourned to a café to celebrate. James Tissot’s painting depicts this ritual gathering on the terrace of the restaurant Ledoyen, a Parisian institution still today. The bustling scene includes portraits of several well-known artists like the sculptor Auguste Rodin, whose bearded, bespectacled face appears near the center of the painting. More than a portrait of the artists, however, Tissot’s work focuses on the stylish, urban women in attendance—the artists’ wives. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., and The Grandy Fund, Landmark Communications Fund, and “An Affair to Remember” 1982 81.153