The Wildenstein Plattner Institute (WPI) has released a new digital catalogue raisonné for French painter Eva Gonzalès, correcting long-standing misattributions and omissions from the 1990 printed edition. The project reattributes works like *Apples in Basket* (previously assigned to Belgian painter Isidore Verheyden) and adds newly discovered pieces, including a portrait of Madame Georges Haquette and Gonzalès’s sketchbooks now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. WPI executive director Elizabeth Gorayeb emphasizes that the digital format allows for iterative updates and brings overlooked figures in Gonzalès’s orbit to light.
This update matters because Gonzalès has been historically mislabeled as an Impressionist—a category she rejected—and grouped with Mary Cassatt, Marie Bracquemond, and Berthe Morisot as one of the “Four Grandes Dames.” The new catalogue challenges outdated scholarship and museum sales-driven narratives, restoring Gonzalès’s independent legacy and highlighting her critical acclaim during her lifetime. It also underscores the broader need for digital catalogues raisonnés focused on women artists, whose contributions have often been marginalized in art history.