Detail of Proposition Diurne by Delvaux in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, June 2010

Proposition Diurne (La femme au miroir)
1937
Paul Delvaux, Belgian, 1897–1994

Dimensions: 105.4 x 130.2 cm (41 1/2 x 51 1/4 in.)

Medium or Technique: Oil on canvas

Classification: Paintings
Type: Genre - Exterior; Allegorical; Nude

Accession Number: 2003.32

Delvaux and René Magritte (1898-1967) were the major Belgian exponents of Surrealism. Dating from the period when Delvaux arrived at his signature style, the hallucinatory quality of this scene is enhanced by his precise, almost hyper-realist, technique. Here, as if in a dream, an idealized nude woman examines a mirror that does not reflect her face, but remains as empty as her expression, the indifferent gesture of the nude man nearby, and the carefully rendered ruins in the distance.

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/proposition-diurne-la-femm...