Artwork Page for The Ghost Story

Details / Information for The Ghost Story

The Ghost Story

1887

Walter MacEwen

(American, 1860–1943)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Unframed: 121 x 191.5 cm (47 5/8 x 75 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Edward S. Harkness 1923.416
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

The women in this painting wear the traditional clothing of Volendam, a fishing village located in the province of North Holland.

Description

During the 1880s, the Netherlands became a magnet for several American artists, among them Walter MacEwen. His most famed painting, The Ghost Story, presents a group of individuals in a Dutch interior listening with rapt attention to spooky narration delivered by a woman at a spinning wheel. A young girl clutches her doll in fascination.
A horizontally oriented oil painting depicts seven women and a child with light skin tones in a room with tall windows. On our left, a seated woman holds a bowl while another stands behind her. Center, a woman in a red bodice gestures from a spinning wheel toward three seated women on our right. They wear white caps and aprons. A child stands beside the wheel. Sunlight illuminates potted plants along the windows.

The Ghost Story

1887

Walter MacEwen

(American, 1860–1943)
America

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