Girl at the Window

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (the USA).

A widely open window opens onto a bright, half-hidden landscape around the castle of de Chassi. Balthus bought this former farmhouse, a 14th-century building in Burgundy, at the end of his life and then renovated. The young girl looking out the window is Frederick Tyson (in this painting, she is 19 years old) was the artist’s favourite model at that time. The world in the picture is harmonious, although it is divided into two independent spaces. The figure of the girl is made in the style of primitivism, although the landscape outside the window is quite realistic and made taking into account the perspective. The first owner of the painting was B.A. Rothschild.