Portrait De Famille Tanning

“Portrait de Famille” The “Portrait de Famille” is a painting by Dorothea Tanning of 1953-54. In her painting, each character is different in size. In the front, a small woman is holding a plate of food, while a dog, bigger in size, stands on her feet wanting her attention. The woman seems to be a maid. Farther into the picture, there is another woman who appears younger than the maid. This woman is in a white dress, sitting on a dinner table, but with no real food. This woman also seems to have a black eye, and portrays a sexual image because of her tight dress and perky breasts. In the background of the painting a male figure is shown, who is bigger in size compared to the other people in the painting. In the walls, shadow of this man can be seen. This man gives a dominant and authoritarian portrayal with his straight smile, and glasses covering his eyes, and giving a distant feeling. This painting overall represents the power in size with each and every character in the painting. …show more content…
One of this element are the colors she uses throughout the painting. Most of the colors used are bland, mostly white and brown. Tanning also uses different shades of these two colors, making the white in the young girl’s dress, an almost dirty shade of white, while the white in the table cloth seems to be a little cleaner, and much cleaner on the maid’s apron. The young girl also appears to match the white of her dress, with her skin tone. Tanning also uses white on the shade of the man’s glasses, giving him a more serious and distant, but at the same time present air to himself. There is also a shadow of the man in the walls, surrounding a big part of the painting. This signifies how important he is in the house, even when not physically