Announcer: This is a Getty podcast.
[Rising, meditative music]
Lilit Sadoyan: Today we’re exploring The Laundress, a
painting about cleaning and much more by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.
[Theme music begins]
Welcome to Our Museum Mindfulness Meditation
podcast, or OMMM.
Part art history and part meditation, we use works of
art from the Getty collection as inspiration for mindfulness
and deep reflection.
Hi—-I’m Lilit Sadoyan.
I’m a longtime meditation practitioner and museum
educator at Getty.
Thanks for joining me as we bring mindfulness
out of the gallery and into our daily lives.
Today, we’re discussing The Laundress, or La Blanchisseuse,
a painting made in 1761 by French artist Jean-Baptiste
Greuze, and exploring mindfulness in the mundane.
This episode begins with a breathing exercise to help
relax your body and mind.
We’ll then give a bit of history and context for the
painting, and we’ll close with a meditation that
encourages us to approach our daily tasks mindfully.
This series is also available as an audio podcast.
If you’d like to step away from a screen for a few
minutes, listen on your favorite podcast app.
Now, if you’re ready, let’s jump in.
[Gong chimes]
[Slow, meditative music begins]
Go ahead and find a comfortable meditation posture, whatever
that means for you today.
Maybe you’re sitting, lying down, something that allows
you to feel relaxed yet alert.
Let’s start by taking a few deep breaths together.
In through the nose. [inhales]
Out through the mouth. [exhales]
Deep breath in. [inhales]
Deep breath out. [exhales]
One more inhale.
Exhale.
And now just let your breathing resume its natural rhythm as
we explore today’s work of art.
[Bells chime]
[Slow music plays]
What if a chore could be transformed into a quiet
moment of presence and dignity?
In The Laundress, artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze hasn’t
just focused on what the main figure is doing,
but how she’s doing it.
Try to picture it now in your mind.
A young laundress sits alone in a room on a low
makeshift wooden stool.
She’s in profile, but gently turns her head to the left to
look out at us, challenging us with her blue eyes.
She wrings out the water from a white piece of fabric into
an earthen basin on the floor.
The water squeezes out from the material and her hands.
It drips and trickles into the basin below.
Try to hear it.
[sounds of water lightly dripping]
Even the way the fabric’s been painted evokes a sense
of dampness in my hands.
The details of the water are painted with creamy brush
strokes of white and blue paint that appear wet too.
There’s a lot of fabric in the painting.
The layered drapery of the laundress’s clothing overflows
here, including a pink and yellow striped skirt, likely
over a petticoat, a light blue tailored robe or gown
with layered sleeves, a white apron, a long white kerchief
worn over her shoulders and neckline, and her head topped
with a white mobcap tied with a pink ribbon to cover her hair.
In the bottom left sits a heap of white fabric,
perhaps next to be washed.
In the opposite corner at top right, a couple other items, one
with details of a striped blue trim and the other like a large
sheet, are draped over what appears to be a clothesline.
In fact, the entire setting is rather cluttered with
the tools and materials related to doing laundry.
Behind the figure, a woven basket stuffed with sticks or
tools just about tips over.
A gleaming pear-shaped pewter kettle, or a marabout, used
for boiling water, sits atop a small wooden table on the floor.
Earthenware and copper pots are haphazardly stacked on
the wooden cabinet behind her.
Wooden paddles known as beach beetles, used for beating wet
linen to remove dirt, are strewn across the bottom left corner of
the floor like an afterthought.
Emphasizing the mess, even the stucco on the wall in
the top left corner has worn off, exposing the
brick masonry underneath.
Washing laundry in the 18th century was slow and laborious.
It would take days to fully wash and dry clothing, much of
that time spent doing repetitive and very physical tasks.
Eight hours filling and draining a pot with soda ash and hot
water, nine hours of soaking it in clean hot water, hours
at the riverside beating out the dirt, three days hanging
to dry—a far cry from our automated washer dryers today.
Those who could afford it would send their clothing and
bedding to be cleaned by a laundress, like the fictional
character in our painting.
Although an invented scene, this painting is based on
everyday life, a style known as genre painting, and Greuze
was the most famous and successful painter of this
style in France at the time.
He was inspired by Dutch and Flemish artists
from the century prior.
Greuze sought to elevate these mundane subjects to the same
level of historical themes, which were deemed the highest
form of painting by academics.
The dramatic lighting and composition and Greuze’s
attention to the subject in this painting valorized the laundress
and perhaps even her chore.
And just as Greuze gave this humdrum, quotidian subject
matter his focused and sustained attention, this
meditation aims to do the same.
We’ll be trying something a little different here.
Rather than sit in quiet meditation, we will begin with
a brief grounding exercise, then practice mindfulness while
engaged with a small chore.
Interweaving mindfulness into the mundane allows us
to bring curiosity, presence, and a non-judgmental attitude
to daily routine tasks.
Washing dishes, doing laundry, cleaning, showering, these
are perfect opportunities to slow down and really focus
on the task at hand, thereby transforming autopilot chores
into restorative moments.
So if you have some dishes to wash, some tidying to do, or
laundry to fold, feel free to hit pause and return when you’re
ready to dive into your chores.
[Gong rings and meditative music begins]
Let’s begin with a few brief moments to center
and ground our practice.
If you feel comfortable, you can close your eyes.
But if you’d prefer to keep your eyes open, that’s okay too.
Try to lower your gaze and lower your lids to
minimize visual distraction.
Use this time to go inward.
Adopt a posture that feels both relaxed, yet alert.
And let’s open our practice with a few deep breaths.
In through the nose. [inhales]
Out through the mouth. [exhales]
Deep breath in. [inhales]
Deep breath out. [exhales]
One more inhale.
And exhale.
And just let your breathing resume its natural rhythm.
So there’s no need to force or extend anything here,
let your body do what it does very naturally on its own.
Just breathing.
And if your mind wanders, that’s okay.
The objective is never to clear or empty the mind,
but just notice those thoughts as they arise.
And come back to your breath,
using your breath as your anchor to the present moment.
And if your eyes are closed, now I invite you to gently open them
and arrive at the task at hand.
First, even before you begin, notice any thoughts
or emotions that arise when you look at what awaits you.
Are there any judgments or expectations?
Notice any urges you may feel to just jump right in.
Take a moment to reframe the task by viewing the chore
before you as an opportunity for reflection, or as an
act of care, either for yourself or for your home.
It is not a burden.
You may even offer yourself a simple reframe.
Instead of, “I have to clean this,” for example,
you may say, “I get to”.
This may not only reduce potential stress associated
with the chore, but also enhance gratitude for this moment.
Take a moment now to set an intention.
Pause and ask yourself, “What do I wanna feel as
I do this chore?” Calm?
Presence?
Gratitude?
Now let’s focus on the sensory experience.
Go ahead and begin your task, and pay attention
to the sensation of touch.
Whatever materials are within reach, notice their
temperature and their texture in your hands and fingertips.
If you’re touching water, for example, what is
the temperature like?
Feel the sensation of its flow.
Or if you’re holding a towel, really feel the texture,
its softness or density.
Notice your grip.
Feel the weight.
Smoothing sheets or fluffing pillows?
Observe and appreciate the neatness here.
How do the objects look?
Notice their colors and shapes or how they
absorb or reflect light.
Get curious.
Maybe you’re folding laundry or putting it away.
Look closely at the creases or how objects lean against
each other for support.
Are there any particular details that you appreciate?
You can get as granular with the details as you allow yourself.
Listen carefully to any sounds associated with
whatever you are doing.
Maybe it’s the faucet or the sound of a spray
bottle or a sweeping broom.
And pay careful attention to how the sound changes
with each action.
Listen to the sound of objects making contact
with each other: stacking dishes, sliding drawers.
Now bring your awareness to movement.
Notice how and when your body moves.
Slow down and really focus on everything you’re doing.
Notice the rhythm of your actions, such as sorting or
scrubbing, sweeping or stacking.
Feel the motion of your arms as you push or pull.
You can even sync your breath with each movement.
Pay attention to how your movement changes
from one task to another.
And if your mind wanders during this time, that’s okay.
It’s completely natural for the brain to do so.
When you notice your mind drifting, gently
bring your attention back to the task at hand.
Take a deep breath and begin again.
Notice the position of your body.
You may scan your body and see if you can relax any points
of tension or tightness.
Soften your shoulders.
Unclench your jaw.
Let something go.
Allow yourself to be curious about each and every bit
of information your body is processing sensorily,
how it’s received through various organs and processed
in the brain, creating your perception of this exact moment.
Finally, take a moment to appreciate the space you’ve
created or the task you’ve completed just now, even if your
work is only partially done.
[Slow, meditative music plays]
Consider how you feel compared to when you started.
Perhaps this approach has brought you a sense of
peace and satisfaction.
I invite you to close your practice by silently thanking
the objects or spaces that you just tended to.
As we return to the world, let’s carry this sense of
presence and awareness with us.
You can consider these prompts as invitations to engage
with the world of chores throughout your day and week.
Look at things around you as if you’re seeing
them for the first time.
Slow down and greet your chores with curiosity and kindness, and
focus entirely on a single task.
Try to bring awareness to habitual mindless routines,
and instead increase your joy in daily living through
sustained attention.
Let’s return to our breath and close our practice by
taking a full deep breath together, the biggest
breath you’ve taken today.
Inhale.
Sigh it out. [exhales]
Thank you so much for joining me.
[Meditative music slowly fades out]