Chlorosis (Love Sick) 1994

Marlene Dumas created "Chlorosis (Love Sick)" using diluted paint on paper. She uses traditional art materials, but there's nothing precious about her technique. These ghostly portraits seem to have emerged from a darkroom rather than a painter's studio. The washes of translucent color create a sense of fleeting presence, as though the figures are dissolving before our eyes. It's like a melancholic twist on mass production; each face similar, yet hauntingly unique. Consider the time it took Dumas to create this work – the repetitive act of painting each face, each one subtly different, like a series of variations on a theme. The title, "Chlorosis," refers to a condition causing a greenish pallor, once associated with young women's supposed "hysteria." So the work hints at the social pressures and expectations that can lead to feelings of illness or oppression. Dumas shows us the emotional weight embedded in simple materials, challenging the divide between "high" art and the labor of making.