Young Woman Powdering Herself (Seurat)

Not to be confused with The Woman Who Powders Herself.

Young Woman Powdering Herself (French: Jeune femme se poudrant) is an oil on canvas painting executed between 1889–90, by the French painter Georges Seurat.^[1] The work, one of the leading examples of pointillism, depicts the artist's mistress Madeleine Knobloch.^[2] It is in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art and on display in the Gallery at Somerset House.

Young Woman Powdering Herself
French: Jeune femme se poudrant
Artist	Georges Seurat
Year	1889–90
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	95.5 by 79.5 centimetres (37.6 in × 31.3 in)
Location	Courtauld Gallery, London

Seurat kept his relationship with his artist's model Knobloch secret.^[3] His relationship to the sitter was concealed when it was exhibited in 1890.^[2]

Hidden self-portrait

Since the painting was publicly shown, the wall behind the young woman had displayed a bamboo picture frame showing a vase of flowers.^[2] In 2014 using advanced image technology, it was revealed that Seurat had painted himself at his easel, the object on the wall is now believed to be a mirror.^[4] After showing the painting to a friend, Seurat painted over the portrait with a table and flowers.^[2][3] Recounted by art critic Robert Rey, Seurat's reactionary behavior resulted from his close friend's awareness of a clever and amusing framework behind the self-portrait.^[5] Ironically, this concealed portrait is the only known self-portrait made by Seurat.

See also

• List of paintings by Georges Seurat