Chrysanthemums

The woman in Chrysanthemums is almost overwhelmed by the brilliant blooms surrounding her. She has rolled up her sleeves to adjust a pot, her blurred features suggesting we have caught a glimpse of her in motion. Tissot staged this scene in the conservatory attached to his studio, a glass panel of which is visible in the picture's top left corner. Conservatories were associated with the "cultivation" of proper Victorian women as well as with nurturing plants, associations that add nuance to this scene of intimate domesticity.

Credit: Acquired in honor of David S. Brooke (Institute Director, 1977-94), 1994