Nude Before a Mirror by Balthus in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2008

Nude Before a Mirror, 1955
Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski) (Paris 1908 - Rossiniere, Switzerland 2001)
French
Oil on canvas; 75 x 64.5 in. (190.5 x 163.8 cm)
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.155)

Balthus has painted landscapes, portraits, and interiors, but the female sitter in various states—daydreaming, reclining, or sleeping, often nude or partly clothed, and typically charged with erotic content—is the subject most frequently in his oeuvre. "Nude in Front of a Mantel" is striking for the sculptural monumentality of the model, who seems to be carved from marble, and the soft silvery light that bathes the figure and fills the room.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/the_ro...