''Portrait of Irma Sèthe'' is an

oil on canvas Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...

painting by the Belgian

neo-impressionist Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, '' A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the beginn ...

painter

Théo van Rysselberghe Théophile "Théo" van Rysselberghe (23 November 1862 – 13 December 1926) was a Belgian Neo-impressionism, neo-impressionist Painting, painter, who played a pivotal role in the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century. Bi ...

. The work is a portrait, painted in pointillist style, of

Irma Sèthe Irma Sèthe (April 27, 1876, in Brussels – May 12, 1958, in New York City) was a Belgian violinist and pedagogue. Biography Youth and learning Irma Sèthe was the daughter of Gérard Sèthe (1827-1893), a textile merchant, and Louise Fré ...

, one of the heiress of a musical Brussels family close to the painter, playing the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. The work is now in the private collection of the ''Musée du Petit Palais'' in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Context

In 1884 Van Rysselberghe was one of the founders of the ''avant-garde'' society of ''

Les XX ''Les XX'' ( French; "''Les Vingt''"; ; ) was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years, they held an annual exhibition of their a ...

''. Members of the group initially focused on

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

, but under the influence of

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...

and

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism. Biography Paul-Victor-Jules Signac was born in Paris on ...

, several of its members moved on, with many of them embracing Seurat's

Pointillism Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism ...

. While Van Rysselberghe was not the first member of ''Les XX'' to produce work based on the guidelines set by Seurat, he nevertheless ended up with being to most committed to the latter, sticking with divisionism for the rest of his career. Today, Van Rysselberghe is considered one of the greatest Neo-Impressionists of the 19th century. Van Rysselberghe had previously mainly studied the

old masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

in search of solutions for the representation of light effects. He found a suitable solution after his acquaintance with Seurat, in the technique of the Divisionists. In his ''Mademoiselle Alice Sèthe'' (1888) Van Rysselbergeh combined ''avant-garde'' technique with the Dutch realist approach. In that painting, he makes evident both the financial status of the Sèthe and their passion for

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

. In ''Portrait of Irma Sèthe'' (who was Alice's sister) Van Rysselberghe cemented his newly discovered style.

Painting

The Sèthe family from Brussels belonged to Van Rysselberghe's circle of friends. Van Rysselberghe portrayed the Sèthe daughters, Irma, Maria (the wife of

Henry Van de Velde Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium ...

) and Alice (wife of sculptor Paul Dubois ) on several occasions. ''Portrait of Irma Sèthe'' depicts Irma playing the violin. Making music played an important role in the Sèthe family. Maria played the

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

and Irma was apprenticed to the "King of Violin"

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Early years Born in Liège, Ysaÿe began ...

, a violinist and teacher at the

Royal Conservatory of Brussels The Royal Conservatory of Brussels (, ) is a historic conservatory in Brussels, Belgium. Starting its activities in 1813, it received its official name in 1832. Providing performing music and drama courses, the institution became renowned par ...

. Van Rysselberghe portrayed Irma Sèthe completely immersed in playing the violin. Attention is focused on her. However, Irma is not alone: in the room next to her there sits another woman. The depiction of this second, partly concealed figure gives the painting some tension. It raises the question of who she is, what is she doing, and why is she behind the door. The ''Portrait of Irma Sèthe'' typifies Van Rysselberghe's

pointillism Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism ...

. The satin of Irma's dress lights up in full pink, composed of thousands of dots of unmixed colors. The changing light and color effects create a strong plastic effect over the folds on Irma's sleeves and skirt. Van Rysselberghe made a great impression on his fellow painters with his ''Portrait of Irma Sèthe'', especially on Paul Signac, who described it in his diary as "extraordinarily delicate." The portrait was exhibited in 1895 at the ''Paris Salon des Indépendants'', in 1898 at the salon of ''La Libre Esthétique'', and in 1899 at the thirteenth exhibition of the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (; also known as the Union of Austrian Artists or ) is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian painters, graphic artists, sculptors and architects, including Josef Ho ...

. It established Van Rysselberghe's name in Europe as a prominent pointillist painter. Van Rysselberghe was one of the few pointillists who primarily focused on portraiture. While many of his Belgian colleagues later switched to

fauvism Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...

, he remained faithful to his divisionist technique.

References

Sources

* Anna Benthues, Rolf Schneider e.a.: ''De 100 mooiste vrouwen uit de schilderkunst''. Rebo, Lisse, 2007.

External links

Informatie over Irma Sèthe

Irma Sèthe op Violinists in the Victorian era

''Portret van Irma Sèthe'' op Wikipaintings
{{Théo van Rysselberghe 1894 paintings Paintings by Théo van Rysselberghe Musical instruments in art Post-impressionist paintings Portraits of women