Portrait of Mlle de Gillespie - La Dame de Biarritz 1912

Giovanni Boldini made this painting of Mlle de Gillespie in 1912 using oil on canvas and, oh boy, does it move! Look at those brushstrokes, they’re like whispers of color, roses and browns, that build this woman’s form. I can only imagine Boldini's dance with the canvas, layering thin washes of color, then building up to these moments of pure, unadulterated pink. And that dress! It’s like a whirlwind of silk and feathers, caught mid-motion, I wonder what they talked about together? Check out the way he uses these fleeting gestures to create a feeling of presence, how the paint thins and thickens in all the right places. I think of John Singer Sargent and the bravura strokes of Manet. They’re all in cahoots somehow, aren't they? Painters are always looking, responding, in conversation with each other across time. This painting is a reminder that art is a living, breathing thing, always changing, always becoming.