The Alcove
circa 1875-78
Eva Gonzalès, the only formal student of Édouard Manet, captures a quiet, intimate morning moment in this Impressionist piece. A young woman in a loose white nightgown stands barefoot on a green mat, casually fixing her hair while surrounded by rumpled white linens. The soft, feathery brushstrokes and pale, airy palette give the scene a dreamy, unposed feeling, breaking away from stiff academic portraits of the time. As one of the few female Impressionists, Gonzalès often painted domestic scenes with a fresh, modern eye, showing the private lives of women in a way that was quite revolutionary for the 1870s.
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