Margaret Keane

The First Gryal

English

Margaret Keane

Marta Jiménez González

4ºESO B

Index

Painter biography

Historical context

Description of the painting

Other major works

1. Painter biography

Margaret Kaene was an american painter. She was mariged with Walter Kaene. During years he was stealing her paintings and pretending the paintings were painting by him. Margaret discovered the cheat and confront her husband, but him threaten to kill her daughthers and her. She was colaborating in the fraud for ten years when the marriage get divorced. Margaret report her husband for difamation and win the trial. Years later, Tim Burtom realesed "Big Eyes" a movie based on her story.

2. Other major works

Ladies in wait

The stray

Historical context of the painting

This painting, called "The First Gryal" was painted by Margaret Keane when she still marrieged to Walter. The painting date from 1962. It is recognize for the movie "Big Eyes" by Tim Burtom. Margaret explain the reason she painted big eyes was because " Children do have big eyes. When I'm doing a portrait, the eyes are the most expressive part of the face. And they just got bigger and bigger and bigger". The major influence for the Margarets' style was Amedeo Modigliani. Moreover Walter used to say his paintings were about kids from Berlin that he saw in the World War II in the 40s. Nowdays we know the character represent the represion Margaret was suffering from his husband.

Description of the painting

In the painting there is a girl, she has short brunette hair and big watery eyes. Her expresion is neutral, highlighting the sadly expresion of her eyes. She is wearing a blue dress and no shoes on. The eyes represent the frustration of the abusive relationships. The girl is in the middle of an empty alley with dark colors, like brown, grey and black, making the dress more remarkable. At the end of the alley we can see a light which can be the sun, but there are light from the front of the girl making a shade.

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