Les vielles filles 1889

Curator: Right, let’s consider Paul Gauguin’s "Les vielles filles," a print from 1889, currently held at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: It hits you, doesn't it? Melancholy, a bit spooky even. The monochromatic palette adds to the somber mood. Are they walking into the shadows or emerging from them? Curator: Exactly. The title translates to "The Old Maids," and that in itself speaks volumes. Consider the social context. During the late 19th century, unmarried women faced considerable stigma. Gauguin uses figuration and symbolism to explore this social reality, reflecting genre painting, filtered through a post-impressionist lens. Editor: I notice how their dark dresses nearly swallow them. Is that resignation, I wonder? There’s something vulnerable about the slight huddle. Yet there is also something stoic about the pair. I’m drawn to how the landscape sort of mirrors their postures, the bent and bowing of forms here really heightens a sense of shared endurance, the natural world bending as the figure’s do. Curator: Indeed, this echoes Gauguin’s symbolic use of landscape and figures. Their somber dress evokes associations with mourning or perhaps religious habit. They appear connected yet isolated. Do you get a sense of anonymity? Editor: Oh definitely. These women could be anyone. Maybe someone’s mother, their grandmother. There's something timeless in the image. And yet this also feels deeply rooted in place, as if one is glancing at local life, maybe at dusk. Curator: Precisely! Gauguin's manipulation of post-impressionist artistic devices, coupled with carefully coded symbolic forms, create a powerful, timeless representation. The choice of printmaking enables the wide dispersal of this loaded image too, to be absorbed and mulled-over. Editor: You’re right, it’s something to be lived-with, this image. A story captured in ink. The world with its beauty, but always tinged with something more. Curator: And maybe in thinking about these women, it makes us rethink the narratives of value imposed upon others and on ourselves. Editor: Yes, it brings history close and urges me to feel deeper than I anticipated.