Nimf 1886

Curator: Nicolas, L., painted "Nimf" in 1886 using oil paint. Editor: She seems to be gazing off into the distance, but I'm also sensing some tiredness and weariness in her expression. Curator: Absolutely, there’s this immediate connection to Romanticism, that longing. But something's fighting against that, an exhaustion, almost like a rejection of the fanciful daydream. The earth and landscape weigh her down rather than lift her into airy fantasies. Editor: You nailed it! And those fleshy, robust curves… They celebrate the labor of bearing the weight of the body, rather than glorifying an idealized nude form. She is not a delicate being. Curator: See, I think it is both, if that’s not a cop out. The earth is heavy, and yet she sits, poised. It is what is in her line of sight. This unknown calls her from repose. Editor: So she's choosing her labor, maybe even seeking the sun with one hand for its generative power, yet there's also resignation in the downward gaze? What sort of dialogue between nature and toil is the artist portraying here? Curator: The landscape here isn't purely ornamental, is it? Nicolas uses it as another emotional plane. This piece seems to suggest labor in connection with the earth is never truly restful. It is a sort of dream from which there is no return, one of embodied work, literally, and of womanhood. Editor: Indeed. There's a compelling rawness here, and what seems more impressive is Nicolas is drawing with pigment here; how very unusual. Curator: It feels like she’s trying to block the sun, or some oncoming hardship. It's as though the sun reveals the earthbound fate to us, our toils and limits. Editor: We begin by contemplating whether we prefer a world that focuses on spirit and intellect over hard labor. The oil paint and canvas have offered themselves here for us to mull that over today.