Balthus, Solitaire

Balthus, Solitaire
oil on canvas, 1943
The Art Institute of Chicago
(http://www.nickhaus.com/2010/02/balthus-in-lovely-lurid-color.html)
no copyright infringement intended

Solitaire was painted in Switzerland, where the artist returned during World War II. It reveals the influence of such Old Masters as Piero della Francesca and Paolo Uccello in its monumentality as well as its awkwardness, both of which Balthus used to underscore the irrational and disconcerting nature of unconscious human behavior.

(The Art Institute of Chicago)

Those stripes! And the way they terminate at the rail is sublime, almost minimal.

(Nick Heywood, Balthus in Lovely Lurid Color)

(Balthus)