The First Communion
ca. 1896
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
25 3/4 x 21 in. (65.4 x 53.3 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Chester Dale, 1963
Accession Number
63.138.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Eugène Carrière's *The First Communion* (ca 1896) is a poignant oil-on-canvas portrait measuring 25¾ × 21 inches, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Paintings department. Painted during the height of French Symbolism, depicts a young girl in the solemn rite of her First Communion—a key Catholic milestone marking spiritual awakening. Gifted by Chester Dale in 1963, this intimate work reflects late 19th-century domestic piety and the era's emphasis on childhood innocence amid rapid social change. Carrière, renowned for his dreamlike, atmospheric style, masterfully employs s...
About the Artist
Eugène Carrière
Eugène Carrière (1849–1906) was a French painter whose deeply personal and atmospheric canvases made him one of the most distinctive voices of the Symbolist generation. Born in Gournay-sur-Marne, Carrière trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Alexandre Cabanel, though he quickly moved beyond the academic conventions he encountered there, forging an intensely individual manner that owe...