Rue des Solitaires
1922
Medium
aquatint, roulette, and drypoint over heliogravure
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1950.1.164
Art Historical Context
Georges Rouault's *Rue des Solitaires*1922) captures the poignant isolation of urban life through a masterful printmaking technique. As a leading French Expressionist, Rouault drew from his Fauvist roots and stained-glass influences to create works thick with emotion, often exploring human suffering and solitude. This piece, part of a portfolio in the National Gallery of Art'swald Collection, evokes lonely figures on a solitary street, rendered in stark contrasts that highlight Rouault's sympathy for society's outcasts amid post-World War I disillusionment. The artwork's medium—aquatint, roul...
About the Artist
Georges Rouault
Georges-Henri Rouault was born on May 27, 1871, in a Paris cellar during the violent "Bloody Week" of the Paris Commune, when a stray shell destroyed his family's home in the working-class Belleville district. Raised by a carpenter father who worked at the Pleyel piano factory and a grandfather who collected prints by Honoré Daumier, Rembrandt, Courbet, and Manet, Rouault showed early artistic pro...