Finding beauty in the mundane, according to Edgar Degas.

Perusing the corridors of the Norton Simon, dimly lit canvases hang on eggshell walls.

Amongst the paintings, the occasional handwoven embroidery and bronze statues of the female physique share the space.

In a way, each piece of art competes for your attention, similar to the bindings of books in a bookstore.

If you’re museum-ing correctly, hopefully, one piece out of the hundreds seduces you to stay with it awhile longer.

“The Laundress,” by Edgar Degas reeled in my eyes, and, before releasing them back into the corridors, left me with a reason to write this.

Depicted on canvas the size of a postcard, a lady dressed in cream linens firmly presses an iron into white fabrics which rest upon a table.

Because of this painting’s size, I’d assume it’s quite easy to miss, especially when surrounded by pieces the size of coffee tables.

Which is probably the very reason I took a second longer to observe it, almost as if not to neglect it.

What made it appeal to me even more was the smaller-sized placard to its right describing why the painting exists.

An art critic who witnessed Degas paint elaborates on how Degas had an obsession over two things:

Washerwomen and ballet dancers.

Furthering their thoughts, the critic continues in a way I find oddly yet satisfyingly poetic.

The critic writes:

“He has fallen in love with modern life, and out of all the subjects in modern life he has chosen washerwomen and ballet dancers. When you come to think of it, it’s not a bad choice. It’s a world of pink and white, of female flesh in lawn and gauze…speaking their language and explaining the technicalities of the different movements in pressing and ironing.”

Typical artworks from this era are of the landscapes, people in courtyards, portraits of gods, saints and royalty, fruits, flowers, interior spaces and such.

Which is probably why I enjoyed this piece; it simply felt different.

Degas chose an atypical subject and found beauty in the mundane.

This all leads me to ponder: if he found this subject beautiful enough and worthy of painting, perhaps his subjects weren’t as mundane as one would think.

And perhaps there are beautifully mundane things all around us, waiting to be noticed, yet we’re too busy caught up in other things.

But, I digress.

— George