2. from two smiling women by Murillo to the young dancer by Degas
through
the exotic beauty Vairaumati is waiting for her lover by Gauguin, young woman in the rue Chateaubriand by Béraud and the lady peering through a tall bay window by Hopper
4. Waiting ...
a theme that has fascinated painters
moments around which sometimes a life is lived
6. 400 years later these two women at the window, just as young, just as modern and fresh,
are laughing at us ...
…
They continue to laugh at the fact that a passer-by has to pay for the affection - or its substitute
of another human being,
perhaps they laugh at our thinking that Murillo was only a painter of virgins.
…
Probably a brothel scene with two shamelessly smiling women at the window
waiting for ...
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Dos mujeres en la ventana
Two Women at a Window
Deux femmes à la fenêtre
1655-1660
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
9. Anxious waiting
of both the human figures, absorbed in private reveries
and
every other detail, from the little town half-hidden behind the luxuriant vegetation
to the ancient ruins, the houses, the towers
…
a sense of imminent danger
a breathless waiting, as if something big is about to happen
Giorgione
Tempest
La Tempête
La tempestad
1506-1508
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
12. Samson lies in Delilah’s lap,
she sits motionless …
Just one flaring torch illuminates the soldiers waiting outside to capture Samson.
Pedro Pablo Rubens
Samson and Delilah
Samson et Dalila
Sansón y Dalila
1609-1610
National Gallery, London
15. a marble balustrade
a couple of dogs
a parrot
a peacock
chopines
and
two women awaiting idly
(their husbands' return after an expedition hunting or fishing with cormorants in the Venetian lagoon)
Vittore Carpaccio
Two Venetian Ladies
Deux Dames vénitiennes
Dos damas venecianas
1490
Museo Correr, Venice
18. a bench
a young ballet dancer
a woman wearing black street clothing, holding an black umbrella
They appear to be waiting, perhaps for an audition or its outcome.
...
Degas provides no other clues as to what the two women are waiting for,
nor whether there is any relationship between them
Edgar Degas
L'Attente
Waiting
La espera
1882
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Ángeles
21. a rose-colored, ruffled peignoir, or dressing gown
a black lace scarf
a silver cross
a Japanese screen
needlework on the Louis XVI stool
eighteenth-century terracotta bust
…
The expectation and anxiety emanating from the Marquise did not really interest the painter.
It was the fabrics alone that fascinated this artist, and he caressed them with a loving brush.
Jacques Joseph Tissot
Portrait de la Marquise de Miramon, née Thérèse Feuillant
Portrait of the Marquise de Miramon, née Thérèse Feuillant
Retrato de la marquesa de Miramon, de soltera Thérèse Feuillant
1866
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Ángeles
23. river water is pouring in through the window …
The young woman awaits her death.
…
Tarakanova dies like a true princess from a Russian melodrama,
although in reality she had died some time later in her cell from tuberculosis.
Konstantin Flavitsky
Princess Tarakanova
La Princesse Tarakanova
La princesa Tarakanova
1864
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
25. The wait is over for the Emperor of Mexico ...
Maximilian bids farewell to Abbot Soria.
The door to the cell is wide open,
and on its threshold stands a Mexican officer in his finest dress, complete with a sword,
bearing the orders for the execution to take place.
Jean-Paul Laurens
The Last moments of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico
Les Derniers Moments de Maximilien, empereur du Mexique
Los últimos momentos de Maximiliano
1882
The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
28. A number of figures sit in a dark room, waiting.
But this is no ordinary waiting room ...
Harald Slott-Møller
The Poor. The Waiting Room of Death
Les pauvres. La salle d'attente de la mort
Los pobres. La sala de espera de la muerte
1888
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
31. Two woman, Christian martyrs, lie waiting their sacrifice by wild beasts.
Saint George Hare
The Victory of Faith
Victoire de la foi
La victoria de la fe
1890-1891
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
33. waiting for customers, with bored resignation and professional patience ...
Edgar Degas
Femmes devant un café, le soir ou Femmes à la terrasse d'un café le soir
Women at the Terrace of a Café
Mujeres en la terraza de un café
1877
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
36. from Polynesian mythology ...
The supreme god Oro fell in love with the beautiful Vairaumati
and chose her to be the female progenitor of the people.
The smoking exotic beauty Vairaumati is waiting for her lover
who is present in the form of a stone idol in the background.
Paul Gauguin
Son nom est Vairaumati – ou Vairaumati tei oa
Her Name is Vairaumati or Vairaumati tei oa
Su nombre es Vairaumati
1892
Pushkin Museum, Moscow
38. waiting for the return of Tobias ...
his blind father in doorway,
his mother standing in roadway peering down the road into the distance
…
An illustration of a passage from the Book of Tobit, quoted in the Old Testament.
Jean-François Millet
L'Attente
Waiting
La espera
1853-1861
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
41. the executioner stands waiting …
…
The final moments of the blindfolded Lady Jane,
proclaimed Queen of England at the age of 16,
deposed nine days after her coronation
and beheaded in the Tower of London on the orders of Mary Tudor.
... behind the executioner, the coffin
Paul Delaroche
The Execution of Lady Jane Grey
Le Supplice de Jane Grey
La ejecución de Lady Jane Grey
1833
National Gallery, London
44. a glass of liqueur, perhaps absinthe
a cigar
a woman with a grave expression of sadness, bitterness or concern
waiting
for someone who probably won't come
Ramón Casas
Au Moulin de la Galette. Madeleine
1892
Museo de Montserrat. Monasterio de Montserrat, Barcelona
46. a beach with a cloudy sky above
several sailboats are visible on the water
a group of women, presumably fishermen's wives, awaiting their husbands' return
Eugene Boudin
Les femmes de pêcheurs au bord de la mer
Brittany: Fishermen’s Wives Waiting at the Shore or Fishermen's Wives at the Seaside
Bretaña: Esposas de pescadores esperando en la orilla, Esposas de pescadores en la playa
1872
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
49. three women wait on the shore for the arrival of the boats loaded with fish ...
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida
Pescadoras valencianas
Fisherwomen from Valencia
Pêcheuses de Valence
1915
Museo Sorolla, Madrid
51. In the Rue Chateaubriand, a young woman waits ...
But the scene is more prosaic, depicting a prostitute waiting for a client to come along,
and which we can even see approaching in the distance ...
Jean Béraud
L'Attente
The Wait
La espera
c. 1900
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
53. a young woman
aopen window
and
a endless sea
…
Dalí’s message is clear:
wonder and mystery are not confined to the surreal –
they are woven into the fabric of reality itself,
waiting to be discovered by those willing to look closely.
Salvador Dalí
Muchacha en la Ventana o Figura en una ventana
Jeune fille à la fenêtre
Young Woman at a Window or Figure at the Window
1925
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
55. enigmatic woman with scandalous makeup...
…
The glazed, lost gaze suggests morphine addiction.
At this time, Picasso painted Parisian night scenes, figures of prostitutes,
and "human adventures."
Margot identifies with a prostitute waiting to buy her fix.
Pablo Picasso
L'Attente (Margot)
Waiting (Margot)
La espera (Margot)
1901
Museu Picasso, Barcelona
58. A woman peering through a tall bay window, riveted by and in anxious anticipation of
something she sees in the distance.
…
an enigmatic wait ...
Everything seems peaceful this morning.
However, there is a tension in the woman's attitude,
which is all the more intense since we cannot see what she sees. Or what she perceives.
But can anything good come out of this forest?
Edward Hopper
Cape Cod Morning
Matin à Cap Code
Mañana en Cape Cod
1950
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC
61. Loneliness, isolation in the big city. Silence ...
A young girl is having a coffee sitting in an "automaton," a typical 1920s restaurant.
…
It's up to us, the viewers, to imagine her story.
Perhaps he is going to or coming from work.
Perhaps she's just a regular customer, an automaton herself, always in the same
place, at the same time.
Perhaps she is waiting for someone,
or has already been there, and the encounter didn't end too well.
Edward Hopper
Automat
1927
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
64. a room stark
a chair casting a shadow on the floor
…
It is difficult to know whether the chair is awaiting its next victim, or has just been used ...
Andy Warhol
Big Electric Chair
Grande Chaise électrique
Silla eléctrica
1967
Silkscreen ink on Acrylic paint on primed Canvas
Encre sérigraphique et peinture acrylique sur toile
Froehlich Collection, Stuttgart
65. You have waited a long time,
but salvation is just down the hall, in that chair …
67. Waiting in paintings
L'attente dans la peinture
La espera en la pintura
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Music The Piano Guys A Thousand Years
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