Palm Sunday c. 1862

Alfred Stevens created this painting, "Palm Sunday," in Belgium sometime during the mid-19th century. It depicts a woman in mourning dress placing a palm frond above a portrait. The frond, a symbol of peace or victory, suggests a private act of remembrance, perhaps for a fallen soldier. What might seem a simple domestic scene speaks volumes about the social and cultural life of its time. This was an era of intense nationalism and colonial expansion. The rituals of mourning—clothing, keepsakes, and commemorative gestures—became important ways for families to cope with loss during times of war. Stevens was a prominent figure in the Belgian art world. His paintings, often of elegant women in domestic settings, reflect the values and tastes of the wealthy bourgeoisie. He and his contemporaries exhibited in Salons and Academies, institutions that had great power in the art world. To understand Stevens’s work more fully, scholars delve into the social history of 19th-century Europe. They consult archival sources—letters, diaries, newspapers—to understand the period's social customs and to reveal how artists responded to cultural events.