Portrait of Madame Recamier Van Gogh Museum its light colors

its light colors

This painting

This painting shows the influence of the Impressionist painters on Gauguin

The artist would have planned this piece very carefully

almost provocative sensuality is tempered by the empty gaze

Portrait of Madame Recamier Van Gogh Museum its light colorsThe painting breaks with the traditional framing of the portraits, which are narrower on the faces of the models. David thus creates a real distance between the spectator and the half stretched young woman, like a Roman patrician. The ancient severity is mitigated by the grace of the model. It illustrates the social rise open to the bourgeoisie which seeks to impose itself by exploiting values and representations from Antiquity.