The First Chief Controller, Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps in France, Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, CBE, DSC 1918

William Orpen made this portrait of Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan with oil on canvas. It feels like he blocked in the general areas and then kept pushing and pulling the paint around, especially in the face, until he found her. I bet Orpen thought about how to balance the subject's authority as a high-ranking officer and her presence as an individual person. The green-khaki color palette really gives the painting a muted, military feel, but then he added these wild strokes of bright blue behind her as if to say: hey, this is a person, not just a uniform. The hands are pretty interesting too, all folded up in her lap with these brown gloves that look like little crumpled animals. Painters learn from painters, and I wonder if Orpen looked at Manet to get his portraiture ideas? Painting is just one big conversation.