Albert Matignon was a French painter who became famous with his female figures during the Belle Epoque. From 1905 to 1928, he also designed marketing materials for commercial products such as Champagne Joseph Perrier

This painting shows three girls in a small and simply decorated room. Attested by their silky and diaphanous dresses, and adornments of feathers and pearls, they may have just returned from an evening party

The girl on the left, her head leaning forward and overlapping a lamp shade, seems to be looking at the girl on the right. The latter is resting against the wall and looks as if hypnotized, perhaps under the influence of drug. A third girl in the middle, probably unconscious, has her red hair dangling over the edge of the bed

Matignon’s painting seemed to have received a lot of attention during the 1905 exhibition at the Salon des Artistes Français. The theme of drug-addicted women was a fascination for writers and painters toward the end of the 20th century

An alternative interpretation of this painting, in addition to “three young girls in an interior”, could be “the three stages of a girl before and during the influence of drug”