Lot 169

Běla Kolářová (1923 - 2010) JOSEPHINE

In 1979, the Kolář couple went to Berlin and then to Paris. This freed Béla Kolářová's work from the constraints of geometric order, returning to her earlier ideas, often working with hair and hairpins. She also painted with make-up. She was determined to get to know her inner landscapes through things she knew well and had close by. A female nude in a neoclassical pose represents an archetypal depiction of female beauty. The logical starting point of a long development that Běla Kolářová followed up with new means. Mánes' Josefína is the ideal of beauty in the sense that even the painter himself did not want to part with her likeness. Thanks to her mysterious smile, she is also referred to as the Czech Mona Lisa.