The Mauve Dress

Philip Wilson Steer 1860 - 1942

Summary

Three-quarter right side head and chest portrait of a young woman with dark hair, in a mauve dress with a white-fronted bodice and pale wide-brimmed hat edged with a dark band of fabric. She stands facing the right, with her face turned toward the viewer, with a neutral expression on her face. There is a plain, pale background.

Display Label

The Mauve Dress 1904 Philip Wilson Steer 1860-1942 Oil on canvas The girl’s disillusioned expression is what gives this painting its modern urban character. Steer painted her from a model, Marjorie Murchison, who was about sixteen years old at the time. Mauve was the colour produced by the synthetic dye developed in the late 1850s by the young British chemist William Henry Perkin. It was usually bright purple. Here, Steer has faded it to a duller colour than the girl’s smooth young face. The title, The Mauve Dress, provides ironic emphasis for the artist’s subtle harmonising of lavender-grey hues. Purchased 1930.21