Boudoir scene 1903

Frantisek Kupka painted this boudoir scene with oil on canvas using a gentle palette of pinks, blues and browns. It's easy to imagine Kupka building up the scene, rubbing out, reworking, adding, taking away, as the painting slowly emerged. I feel a deep sympathy for the artist, imagining him pondering how to capture that moment of private reflection as a woman dresses herself in a glamorous ruffle-y garment, catching her own gaze in the mirror. I love the little details that give you a sense of the time: a perfume bottle on the dressing table, the swirly art nouveau design on the screen. The eye is drawn to the woman’s body. The paint is thinly applied in gentle strokes, but in other areas it’s more concentrated, like the dark paint around the woman’s stockinged legs and tiny heels. It's as if Kupka is playing with the surface, as well as the scene. Kupka was clearly looking at other painters like Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. It feels like artists are always in an ongoing conversation across time, picking up ideas and running with them, don’t you think? Ultimately, this is a painting that allows for multiple readings, embracing uncertainty and ambiguity.