  About the Artwork
  
  
  In this idealized vision of country life, two young girls dominate a landscape on the edge of the woods. Their simple attire of creamy blouses and solid-colored bodices vaguely communicate their peasant identity. Painted with flawless technique and a smooth surface, the figures are nearly life-size and immediately relatable to the viewer. The mostly subdued color palette is enlivened by the red hair ribbon of the girl to the left, who looks attentively at her younger companion holding hazelnuts, likely gathered from the bush behind them. 

In the second half of the nineteenth century, peasant subjects grew increasingly popular among collectors in continental Europe and, especially, in industrializing England and the United States. This painting’s original price tripled when William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s dealer offered it to an American shortly after he had purchased the work from the artist.
  
  
  Title
  The Hazelnuts (The Nut Gatherers)
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1882
  
  Artist
  William-Adolphe Bouguereau
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1825-1905
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  French
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  ----------
  
  
  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 34 1/2 × 52 3/4 inches (87.6 × 134 cm)
  Framed: 44 5/8 × 62 3/8 × 2 7/8 inches (113.3 × 158.4 × 7.3 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Modern Art to 1970
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Mrs. William E. Scripps
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  54.458
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
