# The Ironers [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [DEGAS, Edgar]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 82 x 76 cm ## Commentary The Ironers c. 1884 Oil on canvas, 82 x 76 cm Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena Degas's paintings of the working class have a social content. He took up themes treated earlier by Honoré Daumier and painted women ironing, washerwomen, milliners. In contrast to Daumier, Degas saw no heroism in everyday modern work. His Ironers are of frightening ugliness. Their work is dull. The straining effort of the woman on the right contrasts with the brief repose of the woman on the left. These working women are portrayed as harridans. There are four versions of this composition. ## Related artworks - [A Ballet Dancer in Position]() - [Absinthe Drinkers]() - [After the Bath]() - [After the Bath. Woman Drying Herself]() - [At the Beach]() - [At the Café des Ambassadeurs]() - [At the Milliner's]() - [At the Milliner's]() - [At the Mirror]() - [At the Races in the Countryside]() - [Aux Ambassadeurs: Mademoiselle Bécat]() - [Ballerina with a Bouquet, Curtsying]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()