The Cat in the Mirror 1990

Curator: Balthus's "The Cat in the Mirror," from 1990, is quite intriguing. Painted in oil, it features a young girl gazing into a handheld mirror with a rather self-assured cat perched nearby. What catches your eye first? Editor: The fabrics! Look at the materiality here: a riot of textiles arranged in stacked platforms, from the patterned quilts to the textured pillows and rich velvet coverings. This elevates the domestic and hints at lived-in spaces and skillful hands. Curator: There’s something unnerving about the gaze, isn’t there? That flat affect of both the girl and the cat, staring at their reflections – or perhaps through them. The girl seems on the precipice of adulthood, caught between worlds. There is also a dreamlike, almost surreal quality to the space. Editor: The staging contributes to this mood. Why arrange her in this pile of manufactured things? Note the texture and weight suggested by Balthus's use of impasto paint; it hints at a consumerism beyond mere representation, engaging a haptic experience. Curator: He often painted figures in enclosed, somewhat stifling interiors. "The Cat in the Mirror" brings to mind, for me, ideas of adolescence, self-discovery, but also a sense of being trapped. The mirror serves not just as a surface for reflection but as a kind of portal, perhaps. Editor: This painting reveals more about the circumstances and labor of its creation than it first lets on. Just consider the time it would take to paint each element. Curator: Absolutely, there is time collapsed within this pictorial space; something to really consider, especially, for Balthus. And to think this artwork lives today in a private collection… Editor: Precisely. Its current existence as commodity, framed and valued. Let’s pause to acknowledge this interplay. It deepens how we see its meaning today.