Artwork App

Painting of a young woman in a black and white striped gown, seated at a table with cherries, staring directly at the viewer.

56.2 × 47.4 cm (22 1/16 × 18 5/8 in.); Framed: 83.9 × 75 × 12.1 cm (33 × 29 1/2 × 4 3/4 in.)

Girl with Cherries

Girl with Cherries features a dramatically lit female figure, rendered in loose brushstrokes, emerging from a dark background. Rather than portraying her model as a contemporary woman, Eva Gonzalès dressed her as an 18th-century servant girl, denoted by her frilled linen cap; loose, striped gown; and rolled-up sleeves. Gonzalès, the daughter of an affluent and cultured family, was Édouard Manet’s first and only official pupil, and his influence is particularly clear in this painting: the use of theatrical lighting is reminiscent of his Spanish-style paintings, and the historical clothing reflects his predilection for dressing his models in costumes that suggest other personalities and professions.

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection

Colors

Exhibition History

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Vanity Fair: The Exhibition of Styles in Woman’s Headdress and Adornment Through the Ages, June 16–July 16, 1942, cat. 39, as Young Woman with Cherries. Dayton, OH, Dayton Art Institute, 19th Century French Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 1–22, 1948, no cat; Saginaw Museum, Exhibition of Nineteenth Century French Painting, 1948, cat. 13; Springfield, MO, Springfield Art Museum, no cat.; Memphis, TN, Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Mar. 1–22, 1949; Utica, New York, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Apr. 3–24, 1949, no cat. (organized by the American Federation of the Arts, New York). San Antonio, Texas, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, The French Tradition, Feb. 5–Mar. 12, 1961. Tokyo, The Seibu Museum of Art, The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from The Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 18–Dec. 17, 1985, cat. 28 (ill.), as Girl with Cherries, c. 1870; Fukoka Art Museum, Jan.5–Feb. 2, 1986; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Mar. 4–Apr. 13, 1986. Musée de Dieppe, Visiting Masterpiece: Eva Gonzalès, Girl with Cherries, Sep. 3, 2003–Sep. 26, 2004, no cat. Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 6 (ill.).