Paula Modersohn-Becker
The girl stares unblinkingly past the viewer. There is no sparkle in her eyes, no smile on her lips as her sideways glance withdraws from the intimacy of the image detail. The child's unapproachability is reflected in the simplified forms: her face is positioned like a circle frontally in the rectangular frame. The closed, geometric structure of the picture lacks any narrative element, and so the girl remains caught in her earnest silence. Instead of an idealized portrait of a child, Modersohn-Becker, whose formal reduction was strongly influenced by Cézanne and Gauguin, shows an enigmatic individual.
We present today's painting thanks to the Städel Museum. Paula Modersohn-Becker was a German painter and one of the most important representatives of early Expressionism. Her brief career was cut short when she died from an embolism at the age of 31.
P.S. Read more about Paula Modersohn-Becker here!
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