The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Oil painting of a stylized woman in thick, fluid and opaque brushstrokes facing us, eyes looking over our left shoulder. She sits in a green chair, wearing a green dress and drapes her oversized hands over one another on her lap. The orange and grey background is painted in visible strokes that arc around the rounded silhouette of her chair.

Old Woman

c. 1923–24

Chaïm Soutine

(Russian, 1893–1943)
Russia (worked in France), 20th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 88.9 x 78.7 x 8.6 cm (35 x 31 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 65 x 54 cm (25 9/16 x 21 1/4 in.)
Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund 1988.94
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was inspired by Soutine's work for his short story "Skin."

Description

In the nearly 200 portraits Chaïm Soutine painted, he was remarkably consistent in his approach:he almost always painted solitary, unidentified models, seated in half- or three-quarter-length poses facing frontally with hands placed on the hips or folded in the lap, as seen here. The physical distortions—the woman’s large hands, arched green eyebrows, and pointed chin—executed with agitated, slashing brushstrokes heighten the portrait’s expressive qualities. The sitter here is remarkably similar to the figure in another Soutine portrait of a schoolteacher named Melanie at the Columbus Museum of Art.
  • (A. Mak, Amsterdam) (October 11, 1932, lot 75).
    P. A. Regnault, Laren, The Netherlands (October 11, 1932 -- October 22-23, 1958).
    (Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, "Collection de taubleaux modernes de feu P. A. Regnault") (October 22-23, 1958, lot 127).
    (Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London) (October 22-23, 1958 -- September 1961.
    Peter A. Putnam, Cleveland, OH (September 1961-1988).
  • Courthion, Pierre. Soutine, Peintre Du déChirant. [Lausanne], [Paris], [Fribourg]: Edita, Denoël; [Distributeur exclusif pour la Suisse, Office du livre], 1972. Reproduced: p. 235, no. A
    Tuchman, Maurice, Esti Dunow, and Klaus Perls. Chaim Soutine (1893-1943): Catalogue Raisonné = Werkverzeichnis. Köln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1993. Mentioned: p. 614, no. 68, Vol. II; Reproduced: p. 616, Vol. II
    Vial, Marie-Paule, Claire Bernardi, Musée de l’Orangerie, and Musée d’Orsay. Chaïm Soutine. Paris: Hazan: Musée d’Orsay, 2012. Reproduced: p. 144, no. 58
  • Julie Mehretu: Portals. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 13, 2022).
    Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943), l'ordre du chaos. Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (October 2, 2012-January 21, 2013).
    The Year in Review for 1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 14, 1989).
    Nineteenth and Twentieth Century European Masters. Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London (Summer 1959).
    Expressionisme. Van Gogh tot Picasso. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. (1949).
    Group exhibition (untitled). Groningen (1933).
  • {{cite web|title=Old Woman|url=false|author=Chaïm Soutine|year=c. 1923–24|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1988.94