Painting by Georges Seurat
Young Woman Powdering Herself (French: Jeune femme se poudrant) is an oil on canvas painting executed between 1889–90, by the French painter Georges Seurat.[1] The work, one of the leading examples of pointillism, depicts the artist's mistress Madeleine Knobloch.[2] It is in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art and on display in the Gallery at Somerset House.
Seurat kept his relationship with his artist's model Knobloch secret.[3] His relationship to the sitter was concealed when it was exhibited in 1890.[2]
Hidden self-portrait
Since the painting was publicly shown, the wall behind the young woman had displayed a bamboo picture frame showing a vase of flowers.[2] In 2014 using advanced image technology, it was revealed that Seurat had painted himself at his easel, the object on the wall is now believed to be a mirror.[4] After showing the painting to a friend, Seurat painted over the portrait with a table and flowers.[2][3] Recounted by art critic Robert Rey, Seurat's reactionary behavior resulted from his close friend's awareness of a clever and amusing framework behind the self-portrait.[5] Ironically, this concealed portrait is the only known self-portrait made by Seurat.
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