The Millinery Shop

CC0 Public Domain Designation

1879-86

Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917)

The Millinery Shop is the largest of Edgar Degas’s paintings focused on milliners, or hatmakers. He arranged the composition carefully, making multiple drawings and pastels of the lone figure, perfecting the woman’s pose and experimenting with her outfit. The final composition highlights the visual ambiguities of class identity that arose in France in the late nineteenth century. The woman sits in a hat shop examining a wide-brimmed hat. She wears a fashionable green wool dress with long, elegant gloves that were just as likely to be worn by wealthy clients as by the employees of the shop. At the time, millinery work was considered a prestigious trade that required skill and taste, incrementally elevating the young women who succeeded in the business. Degas addressed this subtle shift in the class hierarchy through the subject’s fashion: While her dress is nice enough to be worn by an affluent woman, she does not wear a hat of her own, which would have been expected of a high-class young lady. The artist portrayed this newfound uncertainty playfully by positioning the hat with green trimmings so it seems to sit atop the woman’s head.

Status: On View, Gallery 226
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas
Title: The Millinery Shop
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1879–1886
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 100 × 110.7 cm (39 3/8 × 43 9/16 in.); Framed: 132.1 × 142.3 × 9.6 cm (52 × 56 × 3 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection
Reference Number: 1933.428
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/14572/manifest.json

Daniel Catton Rich, “Bequest of Mrs. L. L. Coburn,” The Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin 26, 5 (1932), p. 69 (ill.).
The Fine Arts 19 (June 1932), p. 23 (ill.).
Eleanor Jewett, “Noted Private Art Collection on Exhibition: Antiquarians Sponsor Institute Show,” Chicago Tribune (April 6, 1932).
Smith College Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (June 1934), p. 15 (ill.).
Agnes Mongan, “Degas As Seen in American Collections,” Burlington Magazine 72 (1938), pp. 297 (ill.), 302.
George Slocombe, “Artist as Misanthrope,” Coronet 3, 6 (April 1938), p. 22 (ill.).
R. Shoolman and C. E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America (Philadelphia, 1942), pl. 543.
An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1945), pp. 36 (ill.), 37.
Hans Huth, “Impressionism Comes to America,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 6, vol. 29 (1946), pp. 234, fig. 8.
Paul Andre Lemoisne, Degas et son oeuvre vol. 3 (Paris, 1946), cat. 832 (ill.).
F. Fels, L’Art Vivant de 1900 a Nos Jours (Geneva, 1950), p. 98 (ill.).
Daniel Catton Rich, “Midwest Art Capital,” Town and Country (March 1951), p. 75 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago, 1956), pp. 34 (ill.), 35.
Pierre Cabanne, Degas (Paris, 1958), p. 111 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago: Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago, 1961), pp. 121, 336 (ill.).
Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (September 1966), p. 203, fig. 33.
William Gaunt, Impressionism: A Visual History (New York, 1970), pp. 244, 245, pl. 95.
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 1970), pp. 89 (ill.), 90, 280.
Franco Russoli and Fiorella Minervino, L’opera completa di Degas (Milan, 1970), no. 635 (ill.).
Caron LeBrun Danikian, “Degas Story Told in MFA Exhibition,” The Christian Science Monitor (July 2, 1974), p. 4C, ill.
Hilton Kramer, “Edgar Degas, the Reluctant Modernist, at a New Exhibition in Lonodn,” The New York Times (July 7, 1974), p. 19 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, 100 Masterpieces (Chicago, 1978), no. 63 (ill.).
Diane Kelder, The Great Book of French Impressionism (New York, 1980), p. 312 (ill.).
Manet, 1832-1883 exh. cat. (Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais/New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983), under cat. 213, fig. a.
Richard Brettell, French Impressionists (Chicago, 1987), p. 63 (ill.).
Eunice Lipton, Looking Into Degas Uneasy Images of Women and Modern Life (Berkeley, 1987), pp. 153-4 (ill.).
Horst Keller, Edgar Degas (Munich, 1988), pp. 81, 90 (ill.).
Anne Roquebert, Degas (Paris, 1988), p. 176, no 42 (ill.).
James N. Wood and Katharine C. Lee, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1988), p. 60 (ill.).
Edward Lucie-Smith, Impressionist Women (London, 1989), pp. 98, 100, 101, pl. 88.
Howard Hodgkin, “A Great Artist’s Advice: Do Not Miss This Degas,” The Independent (May 22, 1996), p. 10.
Christopher Riopelle, “Edgar Degas: Illustrious and Unknown,” in Art in the Making: Degas, exh. cat. (London, National Gallery, 2004), pp. 15, 16 (ill.).
The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London, 2008), cat. 41, pp. 92-93 (ill.).
Simon Kelly and Esther Bell, Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade, exh. cat. (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/ Legion of Honor/ Delmonico Books/ Prestel, 2017), book cover, pp. 104-105, cat. 1 (ill).
Laurence des Cars, Stephane Guégan and Isolde Pludermacher, Manet/Degas, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée d’Orsay: Gallimard, 2023), 144 cat. 105.
Stephan Wolohojian and Ashley E. Dunn, Manet/Degas, exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023), 232 pl. 125, 294.
James Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 76 (ill.).
James Rondeau, ed., Highlights of the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2026), 126, 261, no. 89, (ill.).

The Art Institute of Chicago, Mrs. L.L. Coburn Collection: Modern Paintings and Water Colors, April 6, 1932-October 9, 1932, cat. 9 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1933, cat. 286, pl. 53.
Northampton, Mass., Smith College Museum of Art, Edgar Degas, November 28-Deceber 18, 1933, cat. 8 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1-November 1, 1934, cat. 202.
Toledo, Ohio, Museum of Art, French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, November 1934, cat. 1.
Springfield, Mass., Museum of Art, French Painting, Cézanne to the Present, December 1935-January 1936, cat. 1.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Degas, November-December 1936, cat. 40 (ill.).
Worcester, Mass., Worcester Art Museum, The Art of The Third Republic, February-March 1941, cat. 4 (ill. on cover).
Cleveland Museum of Art, The Works of Edgar Degas, February 5-March 9, 1947, cat. 38 (ill.).
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Painting, November 4, 1950-February 11, 1951, cat. 74 (ill.).
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Edgar Degas: The Reluctant Impressionist, June 21-September 1, 1974, cat. 20 (ill.).
Richmond, Va., The Virginia Museum, Degas, May 23-July 9, 1978, cat. 14 (ill.).
Albi, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Trésors impressionistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27-August 31, 1980, cat. 8 (ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, Degas in The Art Institute of Chicago, July 19-September 23, 1984, cat. 63 (ill.).
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Degas, February 9-May 16, 1988, cat. 235 (ill.); Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, June 16-August 28, 1988; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 27, 1988-January 8, 1989.
London, National Gallery, Degas: Beyond Impressionism, May 22-August 26, 1995, cat. 4 (ill.)., traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, September 28, 1996-January 5, 1997.
Kansas City, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Invited Work: Edgar Degas, The Millinery Shop, July 22- November 26, 1995, no cat.
London, The National Gallery and The Art Institute of Chicago, Degas: Beyond Impressionism, 1996-1997, cat. 4.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Private Collection of Edgar Degas, October 1, 1997-January 11, 1998, no cat. no (fig. 96).
Atlanta, High Museum of Art, Degas and America: The Early Collectors, cat. 54 (ill.), traveled to The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, June 16-September 9, 2001, shown in Minneapolis only.
Washington, DC, The Phillips Collection, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Still-Life Painting, September 22, 2001-January 13, 2002, no cat. no (pl. 60), traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, February 17-June 9, 2002.
Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–November 2, 2008, cat. 41 (ill.).
St. Louis, Missouri, Saint Louis Art Museum, Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade, February 12 - May 7, 2017, cat. 1; San Francisco, Legion of Honor, June 24 - September 25, 2017.
Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Manet/Degas, Mar. 27-July 23, 2023, cat. 105; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sep. 12, 2023-Jan. 7, 2024, pl. 125.

Sold by the artist to Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris on February 22, 1913 for 50,000 francs [see Durand-Ruel stock no. 10253; this and the following information according to Paris 1988]; sent to Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York, 1917; sold to Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn (died 1932), Chicago on January 19, 1932 for $36,000 or $35,000 [see Durand-Ruel stock no. 4114; the date 1932 given in the Durand-Ruel stockbook contradicts a loan receipt, dated January 23, 1930, for a “Millinery Shop, 1882” from Mrs. L.L. Coburn to the Art Institute of Chicago, copy in curatorial file]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.

The Millinery Shop 14572 <li class="m-listing m-listing--inline m-listing--sound"> <div class="m-listing__link"> <div class="m-listing__meta--sound"> The Millinery Shop 14572 </div> <div> <audio class="video-js vjs-fluid m-vjs-audio " data-gtm-prefix="audio" data-gtm-title="The Millinery Shop 14572" controls > <source src="https://www.artic.edu/assets/2149bc62-56f8-b16a-b3d2-b15e3bbeef59" type="audio/mpeg"> Your browser does not support the audio tag. </audio> </div> </div> </li>

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

On View

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

Explore Further

Suggested Terms

On View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Provenance

Multimedia

Share

Explore Further

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share

IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.