#todayspainting

My favourite paintings, No.9 Gabriele Münter. Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin (1909) Gabriele Münter is a (sadly) lesser known German Expressionist, but a fabulous painter nonetheless. This portrait oscillates between representation & abstraction, offering both a depiction of a close friend & a pleasing abstract collision of colours. The vibrancy is typical of an expressionistic approach & what I like most is it resolves into a portrait through pattern. #art #TodaysPainting #expressionism

My favourite paintings, No.7 Mary Cassatt. In the Loge (At the Opera)(1878) Mary Cassatt's paining has often been used by feminist art historians discussing the male gaze & its female counterpart (see the man gazing at the subject from a distant opera box). But it also demonstrates her command of the moment; a women (albeit a bourgeois woman) seemingly in command of her surroundings. Her focus on the life of women told stories seldom seen in the art of her time. #art #TodaysPainting #paris

My favourite paintings, No.3 Artemisia Gentileschi. Judith Beheading Holofenes (1620) Artemisia Gentileschi painted two similar versions of this subject (this one's in the Uffizi). I used to use this in lectures, contrasting it with Carravagio's more static composition, to argue a women painting this subject came to it with a different view of female agency (feminist standpoint). Its shockingly visceral painting, but actually that's what the subject demands! #art #TodaysPainting #feminism

My favourite paintings, No.2 Walter Sickert. Ennui (1914) Walter Sickert's classic Ennui is a lot larger than you might think; its almost life size, not the chamber picture reproductions might lead you to believe. This portrait of a couple lost in their own world's of banal disengagement from each other, sums up something about the human condition; often we are not being active nor engaged but rather taken up with our own thoughts (even without smartphones!) #art #TodaysPainting #London

My favourite paintings, No.1 Suzanne Valadon. The Blue Room (1923) Suzanne Valadon fought to become an artist, having honed her skills as a painter watching the Parisian artists she modelled for. This signature painting is a fabulous critique of the genre of the reeling nude favoured by male artists across the centuries. The model is dressed causally, smokes & refuses to engage with the viewer. While not strictly s self portrait the sentiment is all Valdon's! #art #feminism #TodaysPainting