Laundresses on the Banks of the Touques 

Curator: Welcome to this presentation of Eugène Boudin's "Laundresses on the Banks of the Touques," an oil painting capturing a serene slice of 19th-century life. Editor: Immediately striking! There's a palpable sense of cool dampness in the air, almost mirroring the back-breaking work of the women. Curator: Boudin's technique really foregrounds labor; notice how the rough texture of the paint evokes the coarseness of the textiles and the rugged riverbank? He’s using the materiality itself to convey a sense of lived experience. Editor: Absolutely. You see it as labor, I also think about the gendered implications. Laundry work was overwhelmingly a women’s domain, usually from the lower classes. They’re intimately connected to the water, to these repetitive tasks. What stories are submerged beneath the surface of that water? Curator: I think the repeated shapes also play a part here: the rounded backs of the women mirrored in the soft curves of the landscape, perhaps subtly speaking to the monotonous routines these women faced daily in their domestic and economic conditions. Editor: It’s about more than mirroring. Consider how these women literally are at the edge, mediating between land and water, civilization and nature. Boudin shows us their unique vantage point—on the periphery but essential. Curator: A periphery dependent on available materials. Consider the dye needed to make the bright blues and reds of the clothes scattered across the bank! This vibrant color demands consideration of trade routes and raw materials central to making this picture. Editor: Which returns us, perhaps, to those unsung stories held in each woven thread and painted stroke of river. The mundane work of these women carries a great weight. Curator: The more you look, the more you see beneath that calm surface, whether we look for brushstrokes, dye composition, or gender implications! Editor: Yes. Every perspective unearths new connections that reveal the true richness within it.