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Audio Stop 215

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Two women with pale skin look out at us from the other side of a rectangular window opening with a shadowy interior behind them in this vertical painting. On our right, in the lower third of the composition, one young woman leans toward us over her left arm, which rests along the window ledge. She bends her right arm and props her chin on her fist. She looks at us with dark brown eyes under dark brows. She has shiny chestnut-brown hair with a strawberry-red bow on the right side of her head, to our left. She has a straight nose, and her full pink lips curve up in a smile. She wears a gossamer-white dress with a wide neckline trimmed in dark gray, with another red bow on the front of her chest. Her voluminous sleeves are pushed back to her elbows. To our left, a second woman peeks around a partially opened shutter. She is slightly older, and she stands next to the first woman with her body facing us. She tilts her head and also gazes at us with dark eyes under dark brown brows. She has dark brown hair covered by an oyster-white shawl. She holds the shawl up with her right hand to cover the bottom half of her face. Her mouth is hidden but her eyes crinkle as if in a smile. Her left arm bends at the elbow as she grasps the open shutter. She also wears a white shirt pushed back to her elbows, and a rose-pink skirt. The frame of the window runs parallel to the sides and bottom of the canvas. The room behind them is black in shadow.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Two Women at a Window, c. 1655/1660

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 34

策展人兼意大利和西班牙绘画负责人Eve Straussman-Pflanzer讨论Bartolomé Esteban Murillo的这幅引人注目的画作中的诱人之处。  

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施特劳斯曼-普夫兰策尔:
我叫伊芙·施特劳斯曼-普夫兰策尔,在美国国家美术馆的意大利与西班牙绘画部担任策展人兼负责人。在我们眼前的画里可以看到,打开的窗前有两个女人,一位较年轻,另一位略显年长。

讲解员:
西班牙画家巴托洛梅·埃斯特班·牟利罗在1660年前后描绘了这幅场景,引发了我们的好奇。

施特劳斯曼-普夫兰策尔:
这两个女人为何来到了窗前?她们是谁?我们不知道答案,但我认为可以透过许多有趣的角度来看待这幅作品。  

讲解员:
年长的女性似乎被外面的什么东西逗笑了,赶紧用披肩捂住笑容。她的同伴脸上也漾起微笑。

施特劳斯曼-普夫兰策尔:
对于在社会上处于一定阶层的女士来说,在公开场合毫不遮掩地大笑或微笑都会显得不够端庄得体。所以我们有必要考虑下,谁是预期的观众?她在朝谁微笑?说实话,我们完全不知道。  

讲解员:
有人认为右边的女性笑容故作娇羞,目光直勾勾,很可能是妓女,正在招揽恩客。不过当然还有一种可能,就是我们看到的年轻女子是一名良家妇女,在一瞬间展露出顽皮的神色,而年长女子是负责提醒她注意言行的女伴。她们是否意识到他人朝她们投来的目光?还是说她们觉得无人注意到自己?这种模棱两可正是让这幅画充满张力的一部分原因。

施特劳斯曼-普夫兰策尔:
画中的两位女子散发出自由自在、随和可亲的气场,这让我觉得眼前一亮。无论当年她俩的表现是否合乎礼仪,如今的观者都会觉得画里表达的感觉非常真诚直率,让人感到振奋,受到吸引。
 

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