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The Abandoned Doll is an oil on canvas painting by French artist Suzanne Valadon, executed in 1921. It has the dimensions of 135 by 95 cm. It is held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington, D.C.[1]

The Abandoned Doll
Artist	Suzanne Valadon
Year	1921 (1921)
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	135 cm × 95 cm (53 in × 37 in)
Location	National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

History and analysis

Suzanne Valadon was known for her unconventional and controversial paintings, often starring nude women. Abandoned Doll is one of two paired portraits of Marie Cola, with her daughter Gilberte, niece of the artist.

This painting is an excellent example of Valadon's mature art: bright colored forms with dark contours, strange and somewhat uncomfortable poses, simplified and distorted anatomy. Similar features can be found in the work of Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse, but Valadon denied their influence and avoided any attempt to classify her own style.

The painting is remarkable for its ambiguity. In the center is a girl with a very childish hairstyle and a developed female body, and in front of her lies in the ground a just thrown doll. The question involuntarily arises about the scene's context, whether the women sitting next to her on the bed and wiping her body with a towel is her mother or instead if is the mistress of a brothel. The young girl turned away and carefully examines herself in a small hand mirror. She is sitting on a double bed. It remains unclear whether the woman his helping her overcome the problems of transitional age, or whether she is a young prostitute being prepared for defloration. It can be noticed that the action takes place in a small room where nudity appears completely out of place. The woman is fully clothed and the girl is undressed.[2]

The doll has the same hairstyle with a big bow in her hair as the girl, and both her legs are tightly clenched. But the doll lies abandoned, symbolizing apparently the departure from childhood. The viewer can only guess what fate awaits this young girl, absorbed in looking at herself and not knowing all the intrigues that the adult world is preparing for her. Valadon does not give a single clue to understand the meaning of the plot of the painting.[3][4]

References

На других языках

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- [en] The Abandoned Doll

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[ru] Брошенная кукла

«Брошенная кукла» — картина французской художницы Сюзанны Валадон.

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