Origine du monde revisitee 1975

This is Rene Duvillier’s ‘Origine du monde revisitee’. It's not dated, but looking at the earthy colors, the pinks and blacks, and the way the paint seems to have been coaxed and scrubbed into the surface, I can imagine Duvillier making this in his studio. He’s got these looping, swirling marks—some dark and assertive, others fading into the ground. There’s this circular form dominating the composition. It's so interesting how he revisits Courbet's famous painting here. I wonder if he was thinking about the female body or the origins of life when he was making it? It makes me think about touch and the physicality of paint, smearing and blending to evoke flesh. For me, this particular gesture speaks of the push and pull between revealing and concealing, creation and destruction. So many artists are in an ongoing conversation, riffing on and responding to the work of those who came before. And each new painting, each new mark, adds another layer to the dialogue.