The Commode

Arts of the Americas

1905/12

Walter Gay
American, 1856–1937

American expatriate Walter Gay devoted the majority of his professional career to painting small-scale, richly adorned interiors like this one. The Commode depicts the Rococo-inspired salon at Château du Bréau, the artist’s residence outside Paris. Although he typically did not portray people in his works, Gay suggested their presence through the use of mirrors, windows, and open doors as seen in this bright and airy, sun-filled room.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Walter Gay
Title: The Commode
Origin: United States
Date: c. 1905–1912
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed: Walter Gay, lower right
Dimensions: 66 × 54.6 cm (26 × 21 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number: 1914.357

Judith A. Barter et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2011), no. 51.

San Diego, Museum of Art, Mar–May 1926.
Evanston, IL, University League, Oct 1926.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Selection of American Paintings Purchased by the Friends of American Art and Presented to the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov–Dec 1926.
Omaha, NE, Joslyn Memorial Museum, Nov–Dec 1931.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, Jun 1–Oct 1933.
Chicago, Garfield Park Art Galleries, Exhibition of Greek Sculptures and American Paintings lent by the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov 5, 1935–Mar 3, 1936.
Art Institute of Chicago, Half a Century of American Art, Nov 16, 1939–Jan 7, 1940.
Indiana, South Bend Art Association, American Painting in the Manner of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, Feb 10–Mar 31, 1948.
Grey Art Gallery, New York University, Walter Gay: A Retrospective, Sep 16–Nov 1, 1980.
Pittsburgh, Frick Art Museum, Impressions of Interiors: Gilded Age Paintings by Walter Gay, Oct 5, 2012–Jan 6, 2013; Palm Beach, FL, Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Jan 29–Apr 21, 2013.
Art Institute of Chicago, John Singer Sargent and Chicago’s Gilded Age, Jul 1–Sep 30, 2018, cat. 80, fig. 117.

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