Indian Life - Benares, Washerwomen on the Ghats- Michel Testard - 2023
🔹 Technique: Acrylic on canvas 🔹 Dimensions: 49.5 x 70 cm 🔹 Price: €2,200
Every day in Benares (also called Kashi or Varanasi), many pilgrims come to pray on the banks of the Ganges and perform their ablutions. Others pass by, visitors wander, gurus teach, children play, and here and there, Indian washerwomen ( dhobi ) come to wash the clothes of their customers.
Meanwhile, the dead are cremated—around the clock—at three nearby cremation sites. And this has been going on, day after day, for centuries.
This scene—washerwomen washing clothes on the steps, or ghats —was painted from a photograph taken on the fly from a boat on the river.
The atmosphere was very calm. The women's gaze, attitude, and gestures formed a natural composition. Almost a classical painting... or a slow dance on stage.
