Truth Coming Out of Her Well
1896 · Oil on canvas · Musée Anne-de-Beaujeu, Moulins
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
About this work
- Artist
- Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904)
- Year
- 1896
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 91 × 72 cm
- Collection
- Musée Anne-de-Beaujeu, Moulins
- Movement
- Academic
A naked woman climbs out of a stone well brandishing a whip, her mouth open in a cry, her hair flying; the full title is Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind. The image comes from a saying attributed to Democritus, that truth lies at the bottom of a well, and Gérôme painted the subject several times in the 1890s, at the height of the Dreyfus affair and his own campaign against photography and Impressionism, whose lies he thought Truth would avenge. This version, of 1896, was bought by the Musée Anne-de-Beaujeu in Moulins in 1909. A century later it found a second life online as the image reached for whenever a hard truth is being delivered, and it is now the most reproduced of all Gérôme's pictures.
This full-bleed edition prints the work edge to edge from a high-resolution scan of the original, very slightly cropped (a few percent at most) to fit the sheet. The gallery edition shows the whole work, uncropped. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A naked figure climbing from a well with a whip, in flesh tones and stone grey, a strange, striking painting for a study, office or hallway at 24×32 in black. Stone, charcoal or sage walls suit it; pair it with The Nightmare for the two most-quoted images in the catalogue.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Academic painting
- Era
- 19th century (1896)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, home office, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×32. Prints at 12×16, 18×24, 24×32 in — 12×16 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 18×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×32 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or dark wood frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing. Also available gallery-wrapped on canvas, ready to hang with no frame.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Truth Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
