Balthus
Fundamental Paintings to Understand the History of Painting
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Thérèse (1938) Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski)
Oil on cardboard mounted on wood. 100.3 cm x 81.3 cm
Metropolitan Art Museum. New York.
In the midst of the modern avant-garde movements, Balthus had a very personal, figurative style. His language was more classical than that of other great painters of his time.
The strength of his work is given by the constant clash of opposites: serenity and silence against extreme tension; moments of harsh reality in the midst of a dreamlike atmosphere; and purity and innocence in opposition to a disturbing eroticism.
The work we have chosen is part of a series of ten portraits, painted between 1936 and 1939, of his young neighbor Thérèse. The contrast between purity and erotic charge is the theme that made Balthus famous and one of the most controversial painters of the century.
Balthus is both admired and criticized, as this ambiguous and provocative innocence has earned him the accusation of being a pervert.
He admitted that one of his best known works, The Guitar Lesson —painted before this series, in 1934— is indeed an obscene work (the music teacher is touching the girl). And he said that his real intention was to cause a great scandal in order to make a quick living from painting.
Regarding the other works, however, he said: “My girls surpass the mortal condition; they exalt life with the tension of their flesh, with the light that surrounds them.” The artist considered that his quest was for purity and not perversion.
But whatever he may have said, the controversy continues.
Balthus’ work with the pure and disturbing girls triggers a fundamental discussion: does art have to be morally correct? Does art have to be comfortable? Should it avoid confronting us with our fears and dark areas?
Recently, in 2017, for another portrait of Thérèse belonging to the same museum, where the girl’s underwear is visible and is more erotically charged than the painting in this publication, thousands of signatures were gathered at the time in a petition for the museum to contextualize the work, to put a warning to the public that said it could be offensive.
The museum flatly refused, arguing that art has the right to disturb, and the viewer has the right to be disturbed, and there should be no conditioning on the experience of an observer of a work of art.
Art happens when artists are free to express themselves, and when, at the same time, the spectator is free to experience emotions in the face of that expression.
Recommended links:
Francis Bacon: “My painting is not violent; it is life that is violent.”
Fundamental Paintings to Understand the History of Painting: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Picasso.
Fundamental Paintings to Understand the History of Painting: Mont Saint-Victoire, Cézanne.
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