Nude with cat
(Nu au chat)
1949
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
65.1 × 80.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1952
© Balthus/ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Balthus tirelessly cultivated a mysterious aura in his life and art. He developed an individualistic vision, without formal training, by copying the works of French Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin and studying Renaissance art. Balthus’s painted world of stage-like interiors is like our dreams: realms in which we know everything has meaning but where meaning eludes us. Nude with cat is one of a group of paintings by Balthus that offer languorous depictions of young girls. The lubricious quality of these scenes is heightened by the presence of a curtain or sheet, in deference to historical paintings of female bodies being revealed as though in a private viewing.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in red paint c.l.: Balthus / 1949
Accession Number
2949-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Interiors
Subjects (specific)
chairs (furniture forms) domestic cat (species) eroticism nudes (representations) reclining repose (activity) seated figures women (female humans)