The Mirror 1981

Curator: Will Barnet's "The Mirror," completed in 1981 using oil paint, presents us with a fascinating interplay between the intimate and the reflective. Editor: My first thought? Melancholy. The cool blues and grays, the woman's downward gaze—it’s all incredibly muted, quiet, almost sorrowful. The shape feels geometric and intimate like she's confined in the canvas. Curator: Absolutely. Barnet was a master of distilling emotion through simplified forms. Consider the composition; the woman's figure is echoed in the mirror, but with a distinct difference in the external view she gazes toward versus her own contained state, inviting us to reflect on identity. Editor: And there's a visual dichotomy set by the use of horizontal lines, the window to the left seems cold and static. The cold is mirrored in the color selection for the entire piece. How do you see his work fitting into the broader history of portraiture and figuration? Curator: Barnet had a very personal sense for both traditions. He was drawn to formalism like Picasso and also surrealism to add abstract thoughts to common spaces. His goal wasn't to copy figures, it was to capture a shared emotive state. I see the strong influence of Intimism here with his intimate portraits. The modern and intimate blend seamlessly. Editor: The tree! Bare branches visible through the window in the mirror serve as a sharp detail with such sharp contrasts to the cold space that exists between her body and her reflection, it highlights time's unforgiving gaze on a face staring in the mirror. The window feels almost more vibrant compared to everything else as if hinting that there's more than being introspective, as opposed to being present. Curator: Indeed, it's an invitation to contemplate the layers of self and perception. Editor: What's so moving to me is how "The Mirror" evokes such a stillness while probing complex questions about interiority and reality. Curator: For me, it reveals our constant conversation of introspection, which isn't meant to be somber but instead revealing of who we are when it's just us, as human beings.