Washerwomen in Provence

The luminous dots people associate with this painter were still four years off. In 1887 he was working in the dark, earthy tones of Realism, and had only just settled on his odd, English-sounding name: born Henri-Edmond Delacroix, he changed it to Cross, an English rendering of the French croix, to avoid being taken for the famous Eugène Delacroix. Here he paints washerwomen at their work in Provence, an ordinary scene of outdoor labour rather than the shimmering Mediterranean light he would later chase. Only after Georges Seurat died in 1891 did Cross fully commit to the small separate touches of Neo-Impressionism. The painting is held in Paris, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.