The painting takes us to a neat but relatively simple dwelling, shown with detailed realism. The woman at the sewing machine has been overcome by fatigue and is fast asleep, unaware of our eyes upon her. The warm light of the paraffin lamp—at that time something of a novelty—has competition from the cooler daylight that penetrates the blind. Krohg worked on the motif in several versions, and similar motifs were also painted by some of his contemporaries.
Philippa Nanfeldt from The Collection Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg 2014
