Washerwomen of Fouesnant

In the foreground a young barefoot woman stands with a large wicker basket balanced on her head, wearing a white head covering, a dark bodice, and a red skirt. Behind her, other washerwomen kneel and wash at a shallow stream, their white head coverings catching the light as a sunlit landscape recedes into the distance. The scene is rendered in Bouguereau’s polished academic realism, with smooth, idealized modeling of faces and fabrics, a restrained earthy palette accented by the red of the skirt and the pale blue sky.