Soft brushwork and a delicate pastel palate lend a tender intimacy to this lyrical scene: a young woman captured in a moment of contemplation, calmly poised in her bedroom. While careful attention has been paid to verisimilitude – particularly in the shape and shadow of the young woman’s torso, the focal point of the painting – the composition is underpinned by a decorative, almost abstract attention to form. Sections of blue, green, grey and wine-red surround the central nude and give balance to the overall impression.
A high quality example of Georges d’Espagnat’s mature style, in which the painter had fully absorbed the lessons of the Fauves and Impressionists, Young Nude features one of his signature subjects. D’Espagnat produced a series of female nudes during the period: similar works are on display in the Мusée d’Orsay in Paris and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes.
D’Espagnat’s paintings are held in major collections internationally, including Musée Eugène Delacroix, Bibliotheque Nationale and Palais de l’Institut, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana.
