The Toilet 

Eva Gonzales probably painted this scene in France during the 1870s, using oil on canvas. At first glance, the painting presents an intimate scene of two women preparing for an evening out, but it also speaks to the social conventions and constraints placed on women of the time. The setting—an interior, perhaps a boudoir—and the act of dressing suggest a private, domestic sphere, traditionally associated with women. The visual codes are those of a fashionable woman in a domestic setting. Yet, the very act of portraying this scene and titling it “The Toilet” hints at a self-conscious engagement with contemporary social expectations. Gonzales, as a female artist, might be critiquing the limited roles assigned to women. It could be seen as progressive, or even subtly subversive, for its time. To understand this painting better, one might research the social history of women in 19th-century France, the prevailing attitudes toward women artists, and the conventions of genre painting. Art is contingent on the social and institutional context in which it's made.