The Parisian Sphinx

Alfred Stevens prints bring the quiet elegance of 19th-century Paris into your home. The Belgian painter became famous for his portraits of fashionable women, shown reading letters, daydreaming by windows or lost in thought among silk dresses and Japanese screens. Our collection gathers more than a hundred of his paintings as fine art prints, from intimate interiors and portraits of Sarah Bernhardt to the breezy seascapes he painted on the Normandy coast.

About Alfred Stevens

Alfred Émile Léopold Stevens was born in Brussels on 11 May 1823. He trained at the Brussels Academy under François-Joseph Navez, then moved to Paris in the 1840s to join his older brother Joseph, an animal painter. His younger brother Arthur became an art dealer and critic.

Paris became his home for the rest of his life. His early painting Ce qu'on appelle le vagabondage (What Is Called Vagrancy), now in the Musée d'Orsay, won a medal at the 1855 World Exhibition. By the 1860s he had found his true subject: the modern Parisian woman in her own surroundings. He was a regular at the Café Guerbois and counted Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot and James McNeill Whistler among his friends.

Stevens was also a teacher. His students included the American painter William Merritt Chase and the actress Sarah Bernhardt, who became a close friend and whom he painted several times. In 1888–89 he worked with Henri Gervex on the vast Panorama du Siècle, shown at the 1889 Paris exhibition.

From 1880 his health declined, and his doctor advised long stays by the sea. He painted many seascapes in Normandy and the south of France. In 1900 the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris gave him a retrospective, the first ever held there for a living artist. He died in Paris on 24 August 1906.

Style and Subjects

Stevens studied the 17th-century Dutch painters such as Gerard ter Borch and Gabriel Metsu, and you can see it in his smooth finish, soft light and calm domestic scenes. He painted elegant women in the fashions of the day, often in richly furnished rooms, caught in a private moment: reading a letter, pausing before a mirror, waiting for a visitor.

He was also one of the first collectors of Japanese art in Paris. Screens, fans and kimonos fill his interiors. His later seascapes are looser and sketchier, with a lighter touch that shows the influence of Impressionism.

Famous Works

• Ce qu'on appelle le vagabondage (c. 1854), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. An early street scene of poor women and children led away by soldiers.
• La Dame en rose (1866), Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. A woman in pink studies a collection of Japanese objects.
• The Psyché (My Studio) (c. 1871), Princeton University Art Museum. A view of his own studio, with a tall standing mirror at its centre.
• La Parisienne japonaise (1872), La Boverie, Liège. A young woman in a blue kimono holds a fan and glances at her reflection.
• Le Bain (c. 1873–74), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. A woman resting in her bath, one of his best-known images of private life.
• The Parisian Sphinx, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp. A dreamy young woman in white muslin, head on her hand, against a plain brown background.
• Maria Magdalena (1887), Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. A rare religious subject from his later years.

Decorating with Stevens Prints

His interior scenes suit rooms where you want calm and a sense of privacy. A woman reading a letter or resting by a window works well in a bedroom, a dressing area or a reading corner, and the soft pinks, creams and deep blues of the dresses sit easily with traditional or vintage-style furniture. Pieces such as The Japanese Robe, Young Woman with a Japanese Screen or Une femme à fenêtre (The Blue Kimono) pair nicely with lacquer, ceramics or other Asian-inspired decor.

For living rooms, hallways and coastal homes, look at his seascapes: Marine de nuit, Un Soir à la Mer, Le Tréport and the views of Sainte-Adresse and Menton are lighter and more open. His seasonal paintings (Spring, Fall, Winter) also hang well together as a set.

FAQ

What art movement was Alfred Stevens part of?

Stevens is usually linked to Realism, with a strong debt to 17th-century Dutch genre painting. He was also an early figure in Japonisme, and his later seascapes show the influence of Impressionism.

What is Alfred Stevens' most famous painting?

La Parisienne japonaise (1872), a woman in a blue kimono before a mirror, is one of his best-known works.

Where can I see original Alfred Stevens paintings?

Major works hang in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, La Boverie in Liège and the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent. Princeton University Art Museum and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore hold others.

How can I recognise an Alfred Stevens painting?

Look for a fashionable woman alone in a well-furnished room, caught in a quiet moment, with silks, mirrors, letters or Japanese objects painted in close detail.

Did Alfred Stevens know Sarah Bernhardt?

Yes. The actress studied painting with him, became a close friend, and sat for him several times. Our collection includes Fedora (Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt).

Related Artists

• Édouard Manet: friend from the Café Guerbois circle who also painted modern Parisian life.
• James McNeill Whistler: friend who shared his passion for Japanese art and painted women in kimonos.
• Berthe Morisot: friend and fellow painter of women in quiet domestic moments.
• Edgar Degas: close friend and godfather to Stevens' daughter.
• Henri Gervex: partner on the giant Panorama du Siècle of 1889.