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 3875 38 in. (115.2191.4 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1968.18.3

Artwork Details

Title
Le Trajet
Date
ca. 1911
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
45 3875 38 in. (115.2191.4 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