Les Lavandieres Monogram E.B, 1883, Wood

"The theme of washerwomen bent over their task on the edge of a stream appears in Boudin's work from 1878. The painter continues to use this motif, which knows few variations in its implementation, until the 1896, three years before his death. Between 1888 and 1895, Schmit lists nearly twenty paintings relating to it... Such is not the purpose of the Washerwomen on the Touques... His business is the integration of the characters in the landscape, of which he seeks here to accurately translate the colorful flavor. Treated in a compact mass, the washerwomen, barely sketched, barely stand out from the relief of the bank. Their uniform dress, which contrasts with the multicolored abundance of elegant women in crinolines on the beaches of Deauville or Trouville, is enhanced by the painter with the help of a few lively touches skilfully scattered throughout the composition. Behind, water and sky are quickly brushed. All of the artist's attention is focused on the group of women: form, movement, light... Starting from the luminous radiance that clings to her blouse, Boudin unfolds his range of colored grays and stretches the shades to black. "from the french minister of culture.