Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • Nude Before a Mirror, 1955
    Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski) (French, 1908–2001)
    Oil on canvas

    75 x 64.5 in. (190.5 x 163.8 cm)
    Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.155)

    Balthus painted landscapes, portraits, and interiors, but the female sitter in various states—daydreaming, reclining, or sleeping, often nude or partly clothed, and typically charged with erotic content—is the subject most frequently in his oeuvre. Nude Before a Mirror is striking for the sculptural monumentality of the model, who seems to be carved from marble, and the soft silvery light that bathes the figure and fills the room.

    Related


    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Rewald, Sabine. "Balthus's Thérèses." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 33 (1998).
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  • Nude Before a Mirror, 1955
    Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski) (French, 1908–2001)
    Oil on canvas

    75 x 64.5 in. (190.5 x 163.8 cm)
    Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.155)