Jo, the beautiful Irish woman

Jo, the beautiful Irish woman
Gustave Courbet , 1865
Oil on canvas
55.9 × 66.0 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jo, the beautiful Irish woman (originally Jo, La Belle Irlandaise ) is a painting by the French painter Gustave Courbet . It was probably created between 1865 and 1866. The artist produced a total of four versions of the oil painting on canvas , which differ only slightly. One of them is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City , the format is 55.9 by 66 cm. This painting was donated to the MET in 1929 as part of the Havemeyer collection.

Jo, la belle Irlandaise (National Museum in Stockholm).

Jo, la belle Irlandaise (private collection in Zurich).

The other three specimens are in the Swedish National Museum in Stockholm, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City , Missouri, and in a private collection in Zurich .

Image description

The picture shows a young woman sitting or standing at a table with a white blanket against a dark background. She wears a white blouse that peeks out from under a black overdress. In her left hand she holds an elongated oval hand mirror, with the right she runs through her hair. These are long, wavy and an intense copper red. Your gaze is directed to the mirror and can be interpreted as serious, thoughtful, dreamy or critical.

meaning

As was the case with his artist colleague James McNeill Whistler , the Irish Joanna Hifferan was a preferred model of Gustave Courbet. Both artists were impressed by Joanna's intensely red hair, which attracts the viewer's eyes. While in other paintings the painter remains anonymous, such as Courbet's painting The Woman in the Waves , the model is named directly. The designation "beautiful Irish woman" and the pet form "Jo" underline the painter's admiration for his muse .

See also

• Joanna Hifferan

Web links

Commons : Jo, the beautiful Irish woman  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Jo, La Belle Irlandaise . The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accessed July 19, 2017.
• Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet - Jo, La Belle Irlandaise (Johanna Hifferan, née en 1842/43) . les.tresors.de.lys.free.fr, accessed July 19, 2017.
• Jo, La Belle Irlandaise, 1865 by Gustave Courbet . gustave-courbet.com, accessed on July 19, 2017.
• Joanna Hifferan . University of Glasgow, accessed July 19, 2017.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Splendid Legacy - The Havemeyer Collection , The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1993, accessed July 19, 2017.