Celestina 1908

Robert Henri painted this portrait of a smiling woman, in dark oils, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. There's an energy to it, right? I can imagine Henri, in his studio, rapidly building up the image with broad strokes. Look at the way he's captured the light on her face, with these fleshy pinks and yellows. The way he's modeled her cheek, you can feel the pressure of his hand. I mean it's there in the brushwork. I bet he was really *looking* and trying to record every little nuance of color and tone he saw. And what about that dark ground, so rich, so unresolved? It’s like he’s saying: here, look at this person, really *see* them. Henri's a classic example of how artists are always in dialogue, building on what's come before and anticipating what's to come.