The Secretary of State
Luc Tuymans
Belgian, born 1958
2005
Luc Tuymans's oil on canvas reduces a high-ranking political figure to a pale, tightly cropped close-up that uses muted color and spare brushwork to probe how public images are made.
The face fills the frame in flattened, desaturated tones—soft, hazy strokes and a severe crop make the sitter feel both monumental and oddly distant.
Working from photographic sources, the painting exemplifies contemporary portraiture that translates media imagery into a restrained painterly language to question representation, memory, and political authority.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
18 x 24 3/8" (45.7 x 61.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Fractional and promised gift of David and Monica Zwirner
Accession
216.2006
Palette
Exhibitions
