Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun’s Self-Portrait with her Daughter, Julie (Interpretation and Analysis)

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Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun’s Self-Portrait with her Daughter, Julie
Self-Portrait with her Daughter, Julie
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to bring you one of the most famous—and controversial—paintings of a mother and child in Western Art.

When Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun presented her self-portrait with her daughter to the Paris Salon, it caused a scandal. The casual pose and clothing of the mother and daughter, along with the mother’s smile caused controversy. Vigée-Le Brun depicted herself smiling with her teeth, an unconventional gesture that was regarded as vulgar or low-class at the time.

The motif of mother and child typically received serious or even sombre treatment by contemporary artists; this was largely because of its thematic connection to the Madonna and Christ Child. Vigée-Le Brun’s decision to include this smile speaks to her desire to bring motherhood back down to Earth; her painting demystifies the relationship between mother and child, giving it a more natural and organic face in art. Looking at the self-portrait from the vantage point of the twenty-first century, I see it as a step towards the Realist movement (which would emerge nearly a century later) and a harbinger of the increasing secularization of art.

Modern viewers, however, have not always approved of Vigée-Le Brun’s self-portrait. In the 1940s, Simone de Beauvoir— one of the leaders of the modern feminist movement— dismissed her work as trivial, criticizing her desire to depict motherhood over subjects she deemed to be more serious or impactful. She noted, “Madame Vigée-Lebrun never wearied of putting her smiling maternity on her canvases." Thinkers like de Beauvoir argued that this emphasis on maternity created roadblocks for women who were not interested in motherhood (a slightly misguided theory in my opinion).

Regardless of the criticism, it is impossible to deny that Vigée-Le Brun had a gift for portraiture. Her ability to capture a likeness and convey emotion and personality through her art is extraordinary. Her 1787 self-portrait is only one example of her astounding artistic range.

Disclaimer: I’m not an art historian or an expert on this topic. The above is my opinion, based on my interpretation of my foreknowledge of art and history. If I’ve done any additional research, I’ll note it above.

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