Portrait of Miss Gay

Portrait of Miss Gay

1880

Oil on canvas

Mått 61,00 x 50,00 cm Ram 85,00 x 72,00 x 8,00 cm

GKM 0171

Purchase, 1881

Here we encounter a woman looking thoughtfully past us. The background is green-hued, and light enters from the upper left corner. Her hair is styled up, and she wears a patterned jacket with a fur collar and brooches; a large white lace collar contrasts with her clothing and illuminates her face. Thorell exhibited Portrait of Miss Gay at the Paris Salon in 1880. It was later shown in Sweden and acquired by the Gothenburg Museum, marking her artistic breakthrough. Hildegard Thorell was born in Värmland in 1850. She married at the age of 22, and unusually for the time, her husband Reinhold Thorell encouraged her artistic ambitions. When she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm in 1876, she was the only married woman attending. She later continued her studies in Paris. Her decision to leave her husband temporarily to pursue art studies in Paris sparked controversy and was widely discussed in the newspapers of the time.

Hannover, Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum, 2002, no. 134 Köpenhamn, Kunstforeningen, 10/08/2002 - 27/10/2002, no. 134 Stockholm, Liljevalchs konsthall, 16/09/1988 - 06/11/1988

Anna Lena Lindberg, m fl, Når kvinder fortæller. Kvindelige maleri I Norden 1880-1900, Kunstforeningen, Köpenhamn 2002., no. 134, p. 159 Stockholm, Liljevalchs konsthall, De drogo till Paris. Nordiska konstnärinnor på 1880-talet, red. Lollo Fogelström och Louise Robbert, 1988., p. 108, ill. p. 106 60 Svenska målare. 60 reproduktioner i tontryck efter fotografier af originalen (yngre), Gleerupska universitets-bokhandeln, Lund 1920, ill. p. 54