Bayonne 1985

Eric Fischl’s ‘Bayonne’ presents us with a dual vision of women painted with oil on canvas. Fischl emerged as a significant figure in the Neo-Expressionist movement of the 1980s, a time when art began to grapple with the return of subjective experience. The pairing of figures here seems to speak to the different stages, or perhaps even the multifaceted nature, of womanhood itself. We have, on one side, a nude woman in repose, self-possessed, alongside a ballerina in a bedroom setting. There’s a kind of vulnerability that seeps from the canvas, yet there is also a sense of defiance in their gaze. Fischl often explores themes of suburban sexuality and the hidden undercurrents of middle-class life. By placing these women in intimate settings, Fischl invites us to consider their private emotional landscapes, and perhaps, to confront our own discomforts around the female form and identity.