Portrait of Florence Einstein 1905

Thomas Eakins painted this portrait of Florence Einstein, likely in oils, with a muted palette. I love the umber brown tones of the background, and the way they throw Florence's face into stark relief. When I look at Florence’s face, I want to know everything about her! Eakins captures her in profile, her gaze directed somewhere to the left of the frame, with an air of deep contemplation. I wonder what she's thinking? Maybe Eakins was trying to do the same... It’s a beautiful study in perception and interiority, like she is looking for something. I am drawn to the fabric draped across her shoulders; the weave of the cloth is echoed in the weave of the painting itself. I can feel how much the act of painting is an act of looking, and how much the surface of the painting is a material record of that looking. Eakins' work reminds us that artists are in an ongoing conversation across time, always learning from each other and the past.