The Glance 

Vicente Romero painted "The Glance" with oil on canvas sometime after 1956. Romero has specialized in figurative work that emphasizes light, color and the female form. The image here is both traditional and modern, showing a woman with a headscarf, a subject who is also clearly a contemporary model. As an art historian, I ask myself, what is the impact of this picture? In the context of the twenty-first century, what does it mean to look at a painting of a beautiful woman? Does the artist want us to focus on her beauty, or is there a wider context that we might consider? Romero’s art reflects a contemporary trend for realism, not only in painting but also in photography and film. To understand this trend, we need to ask questions about the culture in which it has emerged. Studies of museums and galleries can provide insight into these trends. We can only fully understand artworks like this by situating them in their social context.