Liebermann’s ‘Bleaching Ground’. The Missing Laundry Woman 

An abandoned washtub is the only clue to the disappearance of a young woman. It is standing in the middle of the famous painting The Bleaching Ground by Max Liebermann. But not a trace remains today of the laundry woman who originally was created for this work. Taking this figure, the presentation at the Wallraf will unravel the fascinating story of how this large painting came into being. 

After its first public showing in 1883 at the celebrated Paris Salon, Max Liebermann decided to thoroughly rework the picture and painted over the woman. Only now has the Wallraf brought the process behind this artistic revision to light: a recently acquired preliminary sketch by Liebermann and two fascinating x-ray and infra-red images of the painting show the laundry woman on her traditional place and thus reveal a completely different composition for the Bleaching Ground.