This has become one of the most famous paintings since its presentation at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889.  The artist uses a waitress from a café on the Ile de Sein, whom he dresses as a widow, and a child from the neighbourhood.  As a setting, he chooses the old, abandoned cemetery for cholera victims, and the colour of the tombstones suggests that this area may well be submerged in the sea from time to time. The large canvas, with a black frame like a mourning card, is intended to be moving and to show Brittany as country where sea related dramas are part of everyday life.