Baroque
2017
Oil on canvas
99.5 × 66.8 cm (39 3/16 × 26 5/16 in.)
Baroque is a cut-out portrait of a young man (2017). Only the top of his face is visible: his nose, a lock of hair and his eyes. His gaze is tinged with deep melancholy.
The title refers to 17th-century Baroque art, which featured rich, deep colours and intense light and shadows. It sought to arouse emotion and passion in reaction to the calm rationality of Renaissance art. Luc Tuymans based Baroque on a smartphone photo of a Spanish Baroque religious sculpture. Far from restoring its lyricism, his choice of framing and atonal painting makes this image seem like a Bergmanian close-up focusing on the emotion in the boy's eyes.
Tuymans’ work in the Pinault Collection was created for the monographic exhibition "La Pelle" (“The Skin”) at the Palazzo Grassi (2019-2020).
The title refers to 17th-century Baroque art, which featured rich, deep colours and intense light and shadows. It sought to arouse emotion and passion in reaction to the calm rationality of Renaissance art. Luc Tuymans based Baroque on a smartphone photo of a Spanish Baroque religious sculpture. Far from restoring its lyricism, his choice of framing and atonal painting makes this image seem like a Bergmanian close-up focusing on the emotion in the boy's eyes.
Tuymans’ work in the Pinault Collection was created for the monographic exhibition "La Pelle" (“The Skin”) at the Palazzo Grassi (2019-2020).
Exhibitions
Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York/London
Photo: Studio Luc Tuymans
