French School (1920s) - Charming Goddess Of Montparnasse

Oil on canvas. Original canvas. Ah, flesh and coal! This image is not a portrait; it is the very essence of Montparnasse desire, captured in the electric, grimy whirlwind of a self-destructing Paris. Here, a bewitching goddess of bohemian life, lascivious and biting, stands as the quintessence of the avant-garde spirit that Miller adored and from which he suffered. She appears half-naked—a simple and glorious fact of nature—her skin exposed like a manifesto, her gaze charged with all the malice born of the awareness of being the object of desire in every café and damp attic. The extravagant black hat is both her crown and her mockery; it is the only garment that still adheres to convention, and yet she holds a fan in her hand with Velázquezian sophistication, a gesture as absurd as it is magnificent, which vainly attempts to conceal her nudity. The shadow of the avant-garde, that long, feverish shadow, imbues her tortured face with a provocative grimace. She is both prostitute and muse, aware of being known and desired by all of Paris, a city seething with creation and despair, which finds in her ephemeral body the only immutable truth. An explosion of raw, ironic, and deliciously decadent life. - Image dimensions without frame: 88 x 115 cm / 103 x 130 cm with a beautiful classic frame.