Portrait of Mlle de Gillespie - La Dame de Biarritz 1912

Giovanni Boldini painted this portrait of Mlle de Gillespie in 1912, and it’s really all about the lusciousness of paint as a material. You can see how the strokes become the form. Boldini is really working it here with the pinks and reds, using a kind of shorthand to depict fabric and flesh. There is a real sense of energy and movement in the brushstrokes, which is perfect because it stops it all becoming too saccharine. Look at the way the dress drapes over her shoulder – it’s rendered with such confidence. Each mark seems so casual, but they build to create a powerful sense of volume. And the way the brushstrokes flick and dance around her face, especially in her hair, it’s like the whole painting is vibrating. There’s a freedom in his approach that reminds me of Manet, who also wasn’t afraid to leave things unresolved. It's like he's saying, “Here’s what I saw, what do you see?”.