Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/gwen-john-1363" aria-label="More by Gwen John" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Gwen John</a>
Convalescent
Bequeathed by Mrs Rhoda Symons 1937
actions: postures and motions
adults
chair
domestic
furnishings
health and welfare
interior - non-specific
interiors
kitchen
leisure and pastimes
objects
patient
people
reading
recreational activities
sitting
society
tea set
woman
<p>As a woman in a career still largely dominated by men - including her successful brother Augustus – Gwen John had to struggle for recognition. Her contemplative studies of lone women in the calm surroundings of their home suggest intimacy and peace but also a simultaneous sadness. There is no narrative content, although this picture’s title, The Convalescent, suggests a way in which we might read the painting. Like much of Gwen John’s work, it relies rather on mood, atmosphere and closely toned harmonies of colour for emotional impact. Nothing is known about the model, although she appears in about fifty of Gwen John’s later paintings.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
14 April 2003 – 4 May 2004
2004-05-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-04-14
Private Lives
Collection based display
29 September 2004 – 15 May 2005
2005-05-15
29 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2004-09-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
12 February 2005 – 15 May 2005
2005-05-15
2005-02-12
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK)
2004-09-29
Gwen John and Augustus John
Exhibition
16 December 2006 – 18 November 2007
2007-11-18
16 December 2006 – 18 November 2007
2007-11-18
2006-12-16
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-12-16
Intimate Interiors
Collection based display
9 March 2020 – 3 January 2021
2021-01-03
9 March 2020 – 3 January 2021
2021-01-03
2020-03-09
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2020-03-09
Gwen John
Collection based display
13 May 2023 – 30 April 2024
2024-04-30
13 May 2023 – 8 October 2023
2023-10-08
2023-05-13
Pallant House Gallery (Chichester, UK)
27 October 2023 – 30 April 2024
2024-04-30
2023-10-27
Holburne Museum of Art (Bath, UK)
http://www.bath.ac.uk/Holburne/
2023-05-13
Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris
Loan-out
7 February 2026 – 28 November 2027
2027-11-28
7 February 2026 – 28 June 2026
2026-06-28
2026-02-07
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (Cardiff, UK)
1 August 2026 – 4 January 2027
2027-01-04
2026-08-01
National Galleries of Scotland (Edinburgh, UK)
18 February 2027 – 20 June 2027
2027-06-20
2027-02-18
Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA)
http://ycba.yale.edu/index.asp
30 July 2027 – 28 November 2027
2027-11-28
2027-07-30
National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington D.C, USA)
2026-02-07
Gwen John
Loan-out
The Convalescent
support: 337 × 254 mm
frame: 433 × 352 × 60 mm
Bequeathed by Mrs Rhoda Symons 1937
<p>As a woman in a career still largely dominated by men - including her successful brother Augustus – Gwen John had to struggle for recognition. Her contemplative studies of lone women in the calm surroundings of their home suggest intimacy and peace but also a simultaneous sadness. There is no narrative content, although this picture’s title, The Convalescent, suggests a way in which we might read the painting. Like much of Gwen John’s work, it relies rather on mood, atmosphere and closely toned harmonies of colour for emotional impact. Nothing is known about the model, although she appears in about fifty of Gwen John’s later paintings. </p>

Display caption
2007-05-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N04861</b> CONVALESCENT (?) before 1924
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 13 1/4×10 (34×25).
<br/>Bequeathed by Mrs Rhoda Symons 1937.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Arthur Symons; Mrs Rhoda Symons.
<br/><i>Repr:</i>
<i>Illustrated London News</i>, 6 September 1952, p.382.</p>
<p>As there exist a number of very similar versions of this subject apparently painted from the same model (who also figures in other compositions) it is difficult to give a precise date to this picture. Gwen John made several <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> of Arthur Symons, who may have obtained this work directly from her. A version now owned by Colonel F. D. Samuel (exh. British Council, <i>Contemporary British <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>Paintings</span></a> and Drawings</i>, South Africa, 1947–8 (44, repr.)) was brought over by Ethel Nettleship from Meudon in 1924. Sir John Rothenstein in <i>Modern English Painters: Sickert to Smith</i>, 1952, pl.20, reproduces the version owned by Hugo Pitman and places it about 1925–30. Mary Taubman suggests before 1924 for the Tate Gallery picture. Other versions are owned by Denis Cohen (exh. Arts Council, <i>Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, Gwen John</i>, Tate Gallery, May–June 1952 (112)); Colonel Molyneux, purchased at the Matthiesen Gallery in 1946 (21); and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults chair domestic furnishings health and welfare interior - non-specific interiors kitchen leisure and pastimes objects patient people reading recreational activities sitting society tea set woman