It was discovered by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Northern Chile, on 19 November 1990.
[8] In January 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Alfredstevens was obtained from photometric observations in the R-band by astronomers at the Palomar Transient Factory in California.
Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 4.2993 hours with a brightness variation of 0.45 magnitude (U=2).
[6] According to the survey carried out by the NEOWISE mission of NASA's space-based Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Alfredstevens measures 2.6 kilometers in diameter and its surface has a high albedo of 0.34,[4][5] while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a larger diameter of 3.1 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 14.93.
[3] This minor planet was named in honor of Belgian painter Alfred Stevens (1823–1906), known for his paintings of elegant modern women.