The artwork titled “Two Laundresses and a Horse” is an exquisite pastel creation by Edgar Degas, a renowned artist of the Impressionist movement. This genre painting dates back to 1902 and is a testament to Degas’s skillful use of pastels, measuring 107 cm by 124 cm. Today, the piece is housed in the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland, where it continues to captivate audiences with its portrayal of everyday life and vibrant use of color.
In the artwork, we observe two laundresses engaged in their daily labor, with a large horse nearby, emphasizing the work’s focus on daily activities and the working class. The composition captures the physical exertion and movement inherent in their task, with the figure on the left appearing to brace against the horse while the one on the right is bent over, seemingly carrying a heavy load. The horse is a dominant presence, towering above the laundresses and filling a significant portion of the frame. Degas’s pastel technique renders the scene with both fluidity and energy; bold strokes give form to the figures and add dynamism to the scene. The color palette, while somewhat subdued, plays with the contrast between the earthy tones of the stable and the brighter blues and oranges of the laundresses’ garments, drawing the viewer’s attention to the human subjects within the pictorial space.
