The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
1882 Museum of Fine Arts Boston
About this artwork
This large-scale oil painting depicts the four daughters of Edward Darley Boit in the foyer of their apartment in Paris. The composition is noted for its unconventional placement of the figures and its play between light and deep shadow.
Did you know?
John Singer Sargent was a close friend of the Boit family and painted this piece in their Paris home, intentionally breaking with traditional Victorian group portrait conventions by placing the children in separate, asymmetrical zones of the room. The two massive Imari vases featured in the painting still exist today and are displayed alongside the canvas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The painting caused quite a stir when first exhibited because its dark, suggestive composition felt more like an enigmatic interior scene than a formal family portrait.
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The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
John Singer Sargent, 1882
