Girl at Her First Communion 1914

María Blanchard painted this, Girl at Her First Communion, with oils, and you can sense the struggle and the solve of the thing itself in the finished version. I imagine Blanchard, with all of her physical struggles, identifying with this girl, as a kind of doppelganger. Both of them perhaps slightly outside what is considered ‘normal,’ both forced to confront life’s challenges, finding solace and strength in unexpected places. The strange tonality and the oddness of the depiction make it an unsettling painting. The girl’s eyes are heavy, ringed with dark shadows. There’s a sense of melancholy, even unease, in her expression. But look at the way she confidently handles the paint, almost sculpting the form, pushing the boundaries of representation. Maybe it’s about finding grace in the imperfect, strength in vulnerability. Like Chaim Soutine, she reminds us of the power of expression.