SCOTTISH art lovers will soon have the chance to see one of the most important paintings by post-impressionist and pointillist pioneer Georges Seurat.
Young Woman Powdering Herself, which has never previously been shown in Scotland, will soon go on display having been loaned to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) by one of Europe’s most significant collections of impressionist and post-impressionist art, The Courtauld Gallery.
Painted by Seurat (1859-1891) sometime between 1888 and 1890, the painting is an unusual portrait depicting Seurat’s mistress Madeleine Knobloch (1868-1903).
Knobloch’s identity was kept concealed even after this artwork was first exhibited in 1890, and their clandestine relationship, which included having a child together, remained a secret to all but the artist’s closest friends until after the Seurat’s premature death in 1891.
Christopher Baker, director of European and Scottish art and portraiture at the National Galleries of Scotland, said: “This exceptional and very generous loan provides a fascinating complement to the major post-impressionist paintings in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.”
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