Laundresses on the Banks of the Port of Trouville 1866

Eugène Boudin made this painting of laundresses on the banks of Trouville using oil on canvas. The image depicts a group of women doing laundry by the water, with the town and harbor visible in the background. This work offers a glimpse into the social fabric of 19th-century France. It's an important image in light of the radical institutional changes that were happening across the country at this time. Boudin has presented us with the working class at a time when artists were just beginning to examine social divisions. The laundresses here are anonymous, faceless, and huddled together as they perform the hard, physical labor of cleaning clothes in the port, day in, day out. Boudin's ability to capture these images, so central to French culture and society, is an important contribution to our historical understanding of the time. Through close historical research, using sources such as local census records, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the subjects of this painting and their place in French society.