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Period: 19th century (8844)

Type: oil paint (473)

Style: French (759) | Post-Impressionist (33)

Keywords
cosmetics (3) | dots (4) | dressing tables (4) | mirrors (95) | paintings (2102) | powder (1) | powder puffs (1) | still lifes (75) | women (1424)

Young Woman powdering Herself

Circa 1888-90

Georges Seurat (1859-1891)

Oil on canvas

Height: 95.5 cm ( canvas ); Width: 79.5 cm ( canvas ); Height: 107 cm ( frame ); Width: 91.5 cm ( frame ); Depth: 7.5 cm ( frame );

Inscription
Signed, bottom right, recto, on painted border, Seurat

Acquisition
Courtauld, Samuel; gift; 1932
P.1932.SC.396

About this work
This is the only painting by Seurat to give us any information about his private life. It shows his mistress, Madeleine Knobloch, who later gave birth to his son. Seurat’s family only discovered Madeleine’s existence at his death.

Madeleine’s generous forms, shaped by her corset, contrast with the fragile objects around her. Rather than a portrait, Seurat gives us an ironic commentary on the theme of a woman beautifying herself. (Permanent collection label)

This work is not on display
While we make every effort to ensure this information is correct, displays are subject to last-minute changes.

Copyright: © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London