Balthus
*In the Living Room*, 1942

The painting feels like a hypnotic dream. One girl sprawls across the sofa while another stands motionless over a book; together, they capture the awkward angles and restless clumsiness of adolescence.

Their unconventional poses sparked controversy. Some viewers were unsettled by the veiled eroticism, while Picasso and Camus, for instance, saw profound psychological insight. Balthus rejected any suggestion of vulgarity: “I ask you to look at my paintings as pure painting. Don’t search for ambiguity in them—it isn’t there. My figures are simply angels in an interior.”

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