Fernand Khnopff
Belgian, 1858-1921
Portrait of Jeanne Kéfer, 1885
Oil on canvas
Jeanne Kéfer, daughter of the artist's friend Gustave Kéfer, stands on a porch with her back against a closed door. Khnopff used his academic training to create elegant, modern images suggesting subjective states of mind. The adult-size door frames the girl's small figure, and the edge of the floor tilts down to the right, evoking a child's perceptions of a world scaled for grown-ups.
