Portrait de Mme B. Goldschmidt
(Portrait of Mrs. B. Goldschmidt)

1951, oil painting on canvas, 54 x 45 cm
Coll. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
N ° inv. 452

Bertrand tended to favour some pictorial cruelty when he was portraying women. Indeed, the portrait of Mrs. Goldschmidt shows radically expressionist and sharp angles as well as a stern and haughty look. Alla, a very beautiful woman of Russian origin, got married to the banker Bénédict Goldschmidt in 1949 and they became great friends with Bertrand his wife just after the couple moved into their new house in Uccle. It was quite natural then that they both wanted to be portrayed by the painter.
Alla Goldschmidt is portrayed in a very angular way and without any ornament. The pink tone used for the face and the bust drastically contrasts with the deep black background. The painter used two well-defined colour fields: black for the pupils of the eyes and the dark circles under the eyes, as well as for the shaded grey hair; pink for the long curved hand on the cheek and for the bright purpurine lips. While the model’s identity has no real importance here and gives way to Bertrand’s pictorial expression and graphic invention, it is however troubling to perceive some physical elements of resemblance which discreetly unveil the person’s mystery. This reflects a particular ability of the painter which is quite unusual in modern art and obviously appears in this “reshaped” effigy of Alla Goldschmidt, a master-piece which deserves a place among the most beautiful portraits of the 20th century.

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