Marlene Dumas at the Palazzo Grassi, in Venice...

7:18 p.m.

I have painted more women than men.

I paint women for men.
I paint women for women.
I paint the women of my men.
Marlene Dumas (1997)

06/08/22 - Open-end is the title of the exhibition in which Marlene Dumas presents more than one hundred works on the two floors of the magnificent Palazzo Grassi, in Venice. The drawings and paintings range from 1984 to this year, some of them never seen before. But those that we have already seen, like those that belong to the Myths & Mortals series, with figures that appear fragmented with a single eye, a pair of lips or an approach to a kiss, are extraordinary. Among these there's a portrait of Dora Maar, remembered for her unfortunate relationship with Pablo Picasso and whom he himself painted as an emotionally broken woman. Dumas, on the other hand, reverses the situation and describes Maar as a strong being who saw Picasso cry (according to the title that the artist gave to the portrait).

Dora Maar (The Woman who saw Picasso cry), by Marlene Dumas (2008)

Measures: 80 x 60 cm

In another reference to Picasso, Marlene gives us an updated version of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), in which the young women appear with their backs to the observer, locating him behind the "spectacle". So we, as viewers, participate in what is happening, looking not only at the women but at the lighted window in the background of the painting. All of us (we, the young women and the alleged voyeur) are part of this scenario where a "client" or "visitor" is expected.

The Visitor, by Marlene Dumas (1995)

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 180 x 300 cm

A dark background was chosen for a life-size painting of a kneeling nude woman with her hands on her own neck. This is how Dumas depicts Stuck, of which we know nothing... and even less do we know what is happening outside the frame.

Stuck, by Marlene Dumas (2017)

Technique: oil on canvas / Measures: 175 x 87 cm

Bride, on the other hand, fascinates Dumas perhaps not as a bride but as a veiled Salome dancing an erotic dance, or as an Egyptian mummy or whatever other interpretation we want to give her. Anyway, it is one of the most photographed images of the artist.

Bride, by Marlene Dumas (2018)

Measures: 300 x 100 cm

We end the tour of this exhibition, which is a -must see- if you visit the Venice Biennale, with Lips: fleshy and erotic red lips emerge from a face with greenish skin. The green contrasts with the red and makes this mouth look sultry, like a cutout from a 1960s lipstick commercial.