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Balthus

@balthus.bsky.social

130 followers 3 following 2.2K posts

Fan account of Balthasar Kłossowski de Rola, a french painter of polish and prussian origins. 1908-2001 Automated #artbot thanks to @andreitr.bsky.social and @botfrens.bsky.social

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 2h

Solitaire www.artic.edu/artworks/20509

Balthus was born into an educated and artistic, but impoverished, family of Polish aristocrats who had fled political and economic turmoil to settle in Paris. As a young man, he traveled to Italy to study such Old Masters as Piero della Francesca. Aside from this direct experience, Balthus received little formal schooling; this permitted him to develop his own unique artistic vision. In 1933 he began painting the erotically charged images for which he is best known—enigmatic scenes of young girls lost in reverie that often place the viewer in the position of voyeur.
Balthus spent most of World War II in Switzerland, where in 1943 he painted Solitaire. The striking posture of the girl, deep in thought as she considers the cards on the table, is one the artist used in a number of earlier works. The insistent verticals of the patterned wallpaper create a counterpoint to the diagonal of the girl’s back; the mysterious expression of her shadowed face contrasts with the strong, raking light that defines her delicate, long fingers. These details suggest how carefully Balthus orchestrated the painting’s unsettling emotional tenor.

Joseph Winterbotham Collection

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 8h

Painter and his Model www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/painter-…

Painter and his Model

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 12h

Big Landscape with Cow www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/big-land…

Big Landscape with Cow

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Nude at Rest www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/nude-at-…

Nude at Rest

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Landscape with Oxen www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/landscap…

Landscape with Oxen

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Young girl with white skirt www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/young-gi…

Young girl with white skirt

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Montecalvello www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/montecal…

Montecalvello

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

The Room www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-room…

The Room

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Nude with her arms raised www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/nude-wit…

Nude with her arms raised

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The Living Room www.moma.org/collection/works/79263

Estate of John Hay Whitney

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Drawing Room www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/drawing-…

Drawing Room

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The Fear of Ghosts www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-fear…

The Fear of Ghosts

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Young girl with white skirt www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/young-gi…

Young girl with white skirt

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The Yonne Valley www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-yonn…

The Yonne Valley

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The Moth www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-moth…

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Great composition with corbel www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/great-co…

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Chassy by the fireplace at workshop www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/chassy-b…

Chassy by the fireplace at workshop

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The cardgame www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-card…

The cardgame

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Princess Maria Volkonsky at the age of twelve www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/princess…

Princess Maria Volkonsky at the age of twelve

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The Mediterranean Cat www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-medi…

The Mediterranean Cat

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The Toilet www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-toil…

The Toilet

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The Golden Fruit www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-gold…

The Golden Fruit

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The mountain www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-moun…

The mountain

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The Cat in the Mirror www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-cat-…

The Cat in the Mirror

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Study for the siesta www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/study-fo…

Study for the siesta

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Painter and his Model www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/painter-…

Painter and his Model

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Young Girl at the Window www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/young-gi…

Young Girl at the Window

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Girl on a white horse www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/girl-on-…

Girl on a white horse

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Still Life with Lamp www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/still-li…

Still Life with Lamp

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Still Life (quince and pear) www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/still-li…

Still Life (quince and pear)

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Still life www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/still-li…

Still life

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Nude with a Guitar www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/nude-wit…

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The Cat in the Mirror www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-cat-…

The Cat in the Mirror

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Joan Miró and His Daughter Dolores www.moma.org/collection/works/79619

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Girl with Cat www.artic.edu/artworks/117241

Balthus's legendary secretiveness has inhibited critical commentary on his paintings. His son Stanislas appears at times to have been his spokesman, arguing that the girls in his father's paintings are "emblematic archetypes... their very youth the symbol of an ageless body of glory, as adolescence (from the Latin adolescere: to grow toward) aptly symbolizes that heavenward state of growth which Plato refers to in the Timaeus" (Klossowski de Rola 1983, p. 10). He also suggested, a little more plausibly, that the paintings emphasize the act of seeing, though unfortunately he used this as an excuse to propose that an ideal state can be achieved from their contemplation "wherein the act of seeing, the seen and the seer become one" (Klossowki de Rola 1983, p. 8). All the evidence of these senses appealed to in such paintings— nostalgia, lubricity, frustration— work against such a reading.
Most literature on this painting considers alternative identifications of the cat, with either Balthus's model, Therese Blanchard, the daughter of a neighbor, or with the artist himself. The latter interpretation is supported by Balthus's long-standing fascination with cats. In 1920, at the age of thirteen, he published a series of prints narrating the story of a cat called Mitsou; even more directly relevant to the artist's personal identification with this animal is his 1935 self-portrait entitled H.M. the King of Cats (New York 1984, no. 9, ill.). In addition in the work of writers in Balthus's circle, there is considerable support for the association of the cat with sexuality. Georges Bataille's erotic novel Histoire de l'oeil (Paris, 1928), for instance, has a chapter entitled "L'Oeil de chat" (The Cat's eye) in which a sixteen-year-old boy and girl engage in sexual play with a cat's saucer of milk. However, an exclusive emphasis on these readings overstresses the biographical in Balthus's work and overlooks the degree to which he refers to and plays upon traditions of representing sexuality in Western painting.
The genre of salacious images of women with which Balthus's Girl with Cat is aligned traditionally include a small animal: cat or lap dog. The most famous examples perhaps are Jean Antoine Watteau's Lady at Her Toilette of 1716/17 (London, Wallace Collection) and Edouard Manet's Olympia of 1865 (Paris, Musee d' Orsay), but any number of thinly veiled Venuses or clothed beauties in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century painting carry, fondle, or are watched by a pet. Typical commentaries of the time would remark on how fortunate the pet was to enjoy such privileged proximity to the desired object. Unspoken, but often visually very obvious parallels were also made between the creature and the female body. Traditionally the animal thus has a double identity, related to both the artist/ voyeur and the female sex.
The setting of Girl with Cat has many of the traditional trappings of the painter's studio. Therese lies on a daybed that figures in several other paintings by Balthus; on the left, the back of an upholstered chair is barely recognizable because of the rococo swatch of blue fabric bunched around one of its arms (similar chairs appear in Balthus's paintings The White Skirt of 1937 and Therese of 1938).
— Entry, Dawn Ades, Surrealist Art: The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997, p. 6-7.

Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Three sisters www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/three-si…

Three sisters

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Bust of the young girl www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/bust-of-…

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Still Life with a Figure www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/still-li…

Still Life with a Figure

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Getting Up www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/getting-…

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Self-portrait www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/self-por…

Self-portrait

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Getting Up www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/getting-…

Getting Up

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The cardgame www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-card…

The cardgame

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Great landscape with trees (The triangular field) www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/great-la…

Great landscape with trees (The triangular field)

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Patience www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/patience…

Patience

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Barracks www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-barr…

The Barracks

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Living Room www.moma.org/collection/works/79263

Estate of John Hay Whitney

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The passage of Commerce Saint-Andre www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-pass…

The passage of Commerce Saint-Andre

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

André Derain www.moma.org/collection/works/78663

Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (by exchange)

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Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Nude with a Silk Scarf www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/nude-wit…

Nude with a Silk Scarf

Balthus @balthus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The bouquet of roses on the window www.wikiart.org/en/balthus/the-bouq…

The bouquet of roses on the window

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