Sienna

Contemporary Art

1999

Cecilia Edefalk
Swedish, born 1954

Cecilia Edefalk’s work, almost always a serial exploration of a single motif, is distinguished by frequent experiments with duplication, scale, and proportion. All of the artist’s paintings emerge from a relationship to other modes of representation. For Edefalk, sculpture, notably historic statuary, has been a catalyst that she has consistently reinterpreted in order to reflect on experiences that bind her to a particular work. At one point in her career, she traveled to Italy, where she became fascinated by a Quattrocento statue, a polychrome wood angel for an Annunciation. This led her to create a series of paintings, including the haunting portrait Sienna. Although Edefalk considers this an independent composition, it marks the close of the series and aims to capture the mystical qualities she prized in the statue.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Contemporary Art

Artist: Cecilia Edefalk
Title: Sienna
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1999
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 80 × 53 cm (31 1/2 × 21 in.)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation
Reference Number: 2007.9

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