3-016-326 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Psyche mirror, 1876. The Cheval-Glass, was included in the Impressionist exhibition of 1877. A woman gathers up the waist of her loose blouse at the back, possibly imagining the effect of wearing a corset. The light, entering from the two windows that flank the mirror in which she looks at herself, and the reflections on the mirror create a rich tonal range of whites. The full-length figure of the woman is depicted in a flirtatious pose, her left shoulder bare and turned towards the viewer. A tilting dressing mirror of this type was known as a Psyche, a title that was given to this painting on various occasions.