Le Trajet

Romaine Brooks, Le Trajet, ca. 1911, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1968.18.3
Copied Romaine Brooks, Le Trajet, ca. 1911, oil on canvas, 45 3⁄8 x 75 3⁄8 in. (115.2 x 191.4 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1968.18.3

Artwork Details

Title
Le Trajet
Artist
Date
ca. 1911
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
45 3⁄8 x 75 3⁄8 in. (115.2 x 191.4 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure female — full length
  • Allegory — death
  • State of being — death
Object Number
1968.18.3

Artwork Description

Le Trajet, Brooks's nude study of Ida Rubinstein, is a candid image of female sensuality charged by the women's own relationship. Rubinstein's pale, languid form floats, buoyed on a winglike shape in an inky void, creating a visionary, dreamlike space of eroticism and reverie. Symbolic associations between sex and death were common in European art of the time; the title suggests a meditation on transitions: from passion to relaxation, wakefulness to sleep, and life to death.

The Art of Romaine Brooks, 2016