Julian Lass

Gauguin La Perte Du Pucelage (The Loss of Virginity) 1890-91

As you the viewer gaze upon Juliette’s naked body and the fox stares back at you, Gauguin seems to be including you in his voyeuristic seduction. The girl, taken out of her Breton community (glimpsed in the background) appears paralysed, passive, unable to move except to curl her toes, unable to look her seducer - the fox, Gauguin, and you, the viewer - in the eye. The vibrant, clashing colours, green, magenta, cyan and yellow, are a reaction against harmony. Times are moving on, the traditional community glimpsed in the background is being tested by new ideas contained within the form of the very painting itself, which allows the opportunity for seduction.

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