This Girl is on Fire
Woman as Goddess
Curated by Emma Krasnopoler

André Derain, Woman In Shirt, 1906

The colors are sallow. The brushstrokes are thick and muddled. Even the woman is oddly proportioned and strange looking. She may not be the most beautiful woman, like Venus or Olympia, but she has a whimsical expression about her and an intriguing sense of assurance. She is exposed – but barely. Her hair is coiffed, but falls sensuously upon her forehead. She wears a full face of makeup, which appears almost clownish on her gaunt face. Who is she? How has she ended up on the edge of this bed with rumpled clothes and smudged makeup?

She looks ghastly, almost skeletal. Her unnatural skin tones clash and contrast, and she is weighted down by thick outlines on her skin. She stares directly at the viewer, or painter, quizzically and playfully confrontational. Her lips are pursed as if to speak, and her eyes are youthfully large. Her playful expression and coquettish pose identify her as a lover, yet she is not pure or submissive. We view her as an equal, at eye level, in an uncompromising position. Unlike the nudes of Manet or Velasquez, this woman seems real and obtainable. She is not trying to be a goddess or a muse, only to live her life as a modern woman. Beauty fades, skin wrinkles, and eyes sag, but this woman does not need aesthetics to hold our gaze and spark our curiosity.