Curatorial notes
Victor Gabriel Gilbert painted "Jeune fille au chat" in France, most likely in the late 19th or early 20th century. It shows a young girl at her breakfast table with her kitten. Gilbert was known for painting scenes of everyday life, especially in Paris. Here, we see a cozy domestic scene. The girl and her cat are presented with a sense of innocent charm. The accoutrements of the upper-middle class like the blue china tea set, and patterned wallpaper, reinforce a sense of bourgeois contentment. This image participates in the cultural construction of childhood as a time of carefree innocence, and domestic coziness as a paramount value. These kinds of artworks were extremely popular at the time, because they reinforced conservative social values, particularly around family life. The visual elements of the painting create a world of bourgeois stability. To better understand Gilbert's paintings, we might look at publications on 19th-century French social history and visual culture. Examining these sources can enrich our understanding of the social structures and norms reflected in the art of the time.
