At the theatre, Budapest 

Editor: Here we have “At the Theatre, Budapest,” an oil painting, potentially from the mid-19th century, by Jean-François Portaels. She looks wistful, doesn’t she? All dressed up, clutching those opera glasses…it feels like there's a story here. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Well, placing this painting within its social context is key. Genre paintings like this became popular in the 19th century, catering to a rising middle class eager to see their lives reflected in art, idealized of course. Think about what it meant to attend the theater. It was a public event, a social ritual, where one’s appearance and position mattered. Editor: So the artist is less concerned with the play itself and more with…spectatorship? Curator: Exactly! Portaels isn’t simply painting a portrait; he’s showing us a performance within a performance. What does her expression suggest to you, given this setting? Is she engaged in the spectacle, or something else entirely? Her gaze drifts, she seems somehow detached. Is she dreaming, or is the theater offering more to look at than the stage. Editor: Maybe the point *is* that detachment. That despite being "at the theatre" she's somewhere else entirely. What’s striking to me now is that the artwork reflects back on us, who observe from the theater that is the museum. Curator: Precisely! This painting becomes a mirror, reflecting our own relationship with art, with performance, with the act of seeing and being seen. We can reflect about the layers and complexities within something as ostensibly straightforward as a portrait. Editor: I’ll definitely be thinking about that performance within a performance, both in the artwork and now looking at other artworks at the museum!