Head of Woman with Eyes Closed c. 1873 - 1877

Editor: This is "Head of Woman with Eyes Closed," a graphite and pencil drawing on paper, made by Edward Burne-Jones, sometime between 1873 and 1877. It's housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. It's surprisingly serene, almost ethereal. What captures your attention in this piece? Curator: You know, when I look at this drawing, I feel a kind of exquisite melancholy wash over me, like the echo of a forgotten poem. The closed eyes, the delicate lines… it speaks of a profound inner world. It's less about a specific person, I think, and more about a mood, a feeling. Do you get a sense of that pre-Raphaelite yearning for beauty, that longing? Editor: I do. There’s almost a vulnerability in her stillness, a delicate nature being captured on paper. So how does this particular piece fit into Burne-Jones’s wider body of work? Curator: Well, he was obsessed with beauty, wasn’t he? Burne-Jones strived to capture archetypes rather than physical likeness. This work really represents the height of aestheticism, a withdrawal from the grim realities of industrial England into a world of dreams. He used drawings to work out complex figure groupings that would then be used in paintings, so he could then try new approaches. This would let him use a lighter aesthetic while still being extremely useful to his creative process! Editor: That makes so much sense, the process driving towards new and improved ideas, so amazing! I feel like I understand Burne-Jones so much better, and I can see now how carefully the artwork uses a different kind of emotional intention to convey a powerful sentiment through dreams and idealism. Curator: Absolutely. And isn’t that the joy of art? It invites us into those spaces we rarely visit otherwise, stirring those emotions.