The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2026

A vertically oriented lithograph with saturated colors depicts three women with dark skin in a stylized landscape. The central figure wears a pink checkered robe cinched with a red sash. To her left stands a woman in a red and white striped gown. On the right, another woman in a purple skirt and red shawl faces them. Flat blocks of blue, tan, and white form the rolling hills and cloud-filled sky behind them.

Three Women (Easter Sunday)

1979

Romare Bearden

(American, 1912–1988)
publisher

Atelier Ettinger

America
Color lithograph
Framed: 50.8 x 38.1 cm (20 x 15 in.)
Bequest of Kim Sherwin 2023.110
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Bearden may have been inspired by a Renaissance painting depicting the visitation between Mary and Elizabeth in portraying this tender meeting among women.

Description

African American home life, daily work and ritual, celebration, and music constitute the subject matter of Romare Bearden’s prints of the 1970s. Here, three women with columnar bodies greet one another under a blue sky. The striped, checked, and circular patterns of their dresses recall the interlocking shapes, flattened colors, and patterns of Bearden’s many collages.
  • ?-2023
    Estate of Kim Sherwin
    June 5, 2023-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Bearden, Romare, Gail Gelburd, Alex Rosenberg, Nanette Bearden, and June Kelly. A Graphic Odyssey: Romare Bearden As Printmaker. Philadelphia: Distributed by University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. No. 84
  • {{cite web|title=Three Women (Easter Sunday)|url=false|author=Romare Bearden, Atelier Ettinger|year=1979|access-date=30 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.110