The Toilet 1957

Balthasar Klossowski, or Balthus, as he's better known, made this painting called 'The Toilet', with oil on canvas. I think about Balthus painting, and how he’s trying to capture something about that moment just before or after dressing. It’s a pale picture; a kind of subdued light, which is coming from somewhere. I'm thinking about the texture, the matte surface, and the figure’s pose. The gridlines seem to map onto the figure like a cage. I wonder what he might have been thinking when he made it? Does the painting feel oppressive or dreamlike? There's something here about painting the body, especially the young female body, that feels in line with other work from that time. Painters are always in conversation, aren’t they?