Blue eyes
(Les yeux bleus)
1956
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
75.1 × 50.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased with funds donated by the Bowness Family Foundation and George and Patricia Kline and family, 2017
© Françoise Gilot, courtesy of Vincent Mann Gallery
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This work comes from a period of change in Françoise Gilot’s artistic career, when she moved away from working principally from the imagination in a quasi-Surrealist mode. In 1954, following the end of her relationship with Pablo Picasso, she resumed drawing from nature, taking inspiration from professional models or friends. A favourite model in Paris at this time was a young English classical dancer called Germaine Brocks. Gilot recalled that with her ‘fair hair, pale complexion and a fine silhouette’, Brocks became ‘an inspiring and poetic presence’. Although often posing in ballet costume, here Brocks wears everyday attire, capturing the spirit of modernity in 1950s Paris.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Inscription
inscribed in maroon paint l.r.: F. Gilot. 1956
inscribed in maroon paint on reverse u.l.: - Les yeux bleus – 1956
Accession Number
2017.77
Department
International Painting
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Portraits
Subjects (specific)
chairs (furniture forms) eyes (animal components) seated figures three-quarter views women (female humans)
Movements
Modernism