Twilight Confidences

When Beaux desired to advance her career in 1888, she followed many Americans and went to France. That summer, she traveled to the picturesque seaside village of Concarneau in Brittany. "Twilight Confidences" reflects her fascination with the crisp white collars and wing-like caps that the women there wore. Its subject also suggests her ambition. Years earlier, while an art student in Philadelphia, she had seen a copy of Jean-Francois Millet’s painting "Angelus," which also shows French peasants. As Beaux recalled, the “romantic dignity” of Millet’s picture “made the paintings near it look common.”