Mary Magdalene 1927

Here we see Ludovic Alleaume’s Mary Magdalene, though we don’t know exactly when it came into being. Can’t you just imagine his process? He’s using these pale, almost chalky hues, and you get the sense of building up color, layer upon layer, maybe wiping away and starting again. I feel for Alleaume. I mean, look at what he's trying to pull off here - the weight of emotion, a sense of the ephemeral. It’s a kind of dance with the figure emerging from the ground, blonde hair flowing out like an extension of her body, her grief. And there’s that skull staring back at us, the cool greens, and moody blues… The tension between these elements is palpable, and yet, there’s this weird sense of harmony. We, as painters, are always in conversation with each other, across time, trying to depict what it means to be human. Alleaume did his best, maybe you can feel his struggle too.