Mademoiselle Guillaumin Lisant 1907

Armand Guillaumin painted Mademoiselle Guillaumin Lisant, using oil on canvas to create this intimate domestic scene. The composition is carefully structured, drawing us in through a complex interplay of vertical and horizontal lines, softened by the vibrant colours and textured brushstrokes. The painting is divided into distinct zones: the patterned curtains to the left, the dark, rectilinear bookcase behind the figure, and the light-filled space around the fireplace on the right. This division creates a push and pull, destabilizing the traditional single-point perspective. Guillaumin seems to question fixed ways of seeing and representing space. The brushstrokes, thick and visible, reject any illusion of smooth representation, asserting the materiality of the paint itself. The juxtaposition of complementary colours such as the yellow flowers against the blue-tinged fireplace, enhances the visual tension, and encourages a reading of the painting as a dynamic interplay of form and colour, rather than a mere depiction of reality. It is this tension between representation and abstraction that defines much of modern art.