Orsay Museum

Acquisition of our painting ‘Watercolours’ by Alix d’Anethan by the Musée d’Orsay 

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Displayed in the "Figure" section of Room 69, dedicated to painting in Europe around 1900, this donation from the Société des Amis des musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie (SAMO) reinforces the representation of women artists in the Musée d'Orsay's collections.
Alix d'Anethan, originally from Belgium, moved to Paris in the 1880s and exhibited regularly at the Salon. In 1888, she presented "Les Aquarelles" (The Watercolors), a paradoxical title for a large oil painting.
Can we read this as an ironic criticism of the confinement of women from upper-class families at the time to a genre considered minor and for amateurs? On the contrary, the painting demonstrates her ambition and talent as a professional painter who transcended the limitations imposed on women. It is representative of her decorative, synthetic, refined, harmonious style, centered on the human figure.