Portrait of Princess Marthe-Lucile Bibesco 1911

Giovanni Boldini made this portrait with oil paint and a whole lotta bravura. Imagine the artist swooping at the canvas, barely glancing, throwing down marks, each one a perfectly placed jab. You know, painting a portrait is always a negotiation between what you see and what you want to say. I wonder what Boldini wanted to say about the sitter? She's so delicate, but the paint is so wild. It's like he's saying, "Beauty is fleeting, but the gesture is forever." And look at how thin the paint is in places, almost like a wash, and then BAM, a thick impasto highlight. He’s making the painting come alive through its surface. Painters are always trying to talk to each other across time. Boldini’s wild strokes feel like a precursor to artists like de Kooning, who took gesture to a whole new level. It's all one big conversation, a painterly game of telephone.