Eugène Carrière
We present today's painting thanks to the Städel Museum in Frankfurt where you can again visit the exhibition En passant. Impressionism in sculpture.
This painting is a of a woman and her infant sleeping side by side. Despite the close-up view, though, the blurry and sweeping mode of representation eludes the onlooker. The outlines of both figures can hardly be made out, and they appear to be floating in the dark. The soft focus and almost monochromatic palette of greys and browns (a trademark of the French Symbolists) communicate the intimacy of mother and child, while veiling them from the outside world. Images of mother and child form a substantial part of Carrière’s oeuvre.
P.S. Here you can read more on Symbolism in Victorian art.