La Belle 1974

Léonor Fini made this painting called ‘La Belle’ with what seems to be thin, diluted paint, almost like watercolor. The marks feel delicately placed, and it's easy to imagine her building up the image layer by layer, which makes the painting process feel very intimate. The figure is a sphinx but with the head of a skeleton crowned with flowers, which she offsets with this soft palette of blues, creams, and pinks. The translucent quality of the paint gives the body an ethereal look, as if she’s emerging from another dimension. Look closely at the line of the spine and rib cage. See how lightly and delicately she has painted it? There’s this real push and pull between life and death, beauty and decay. The figure’s gesture of presenting a rose is like a gift, a gesture of kindness. Fini's work reminds me a little of Remedios Varo, another surrealist painter who built up her images with these incredibly fine layers of paint, creating otherworldly scenes filled with symbolism. Ultimately, ‘La Belle’ invites us to consider the beautiful ambiguity of existence.