Girl with a Ribbon in Her Hair and Shaved Head by Raquel Reis
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Oil on Arches paper
Dimensions: 29 x 42 cm
Year: 2025
Price: $682.00 USD
Status: available
This expressive portrait depicts a young woman in profile, born primarily from imagination yet subtly informed by memory. While painting, the artist recalled a woman seen in the Madrid subway wearing a ribbon in her hair, an image that merged with a personal tribute: the shaved area near the ear echoes the hairstyle of the artist’s niece, transforming the figure into an intimate homage. Strong, gestural brushstrokes and bold color contrasts define the composition. The dark brown background is energized by yellow undertones, intensifying the vibrant green of the blouse and the blue-green hues of the hair. The pink ribbon stands out as a delicate yet assertive accent, while grayish whites in the face add depth and emotional nuance. The result is an expressionist work that balances strength and vulnerability, memory and invention.
Why collect this work?
This profile is organised less by anatomical coherence than by contour, using recognisable features to hold together a figure whose hair, face and clothing repeatedly change direction and scale.
- Reis states that she reconstructs observed experience through pictorial invention. Here, that approach helps explain why the subject remains identifiable without functioning as a conventional likeness.
- In the photograph, one eye faces outward while the nose and jaw point sideways. Turquoise coils crowd the head, and the enlarged green blouse presses against three edges, making the compact figure feel expansive.
- The catalogue records oil on Arches paper. The medium can accommodate both dense, opaque colour and exposed directional marks, a contrast visible between the flat dark contours and more varied green and ochre passages.
- The title identifies a girl, ribbon and shaved head, yet the image complicates each descriptive cue through fragmentation. Encountering the work tests how little visual consistency portraiture needs to sustain a specific persona.
About the Artist
Raquel Reis
Raquel Reis is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Madrid, ES.
Nationality: Brazilian
My work is rooted in sensation, perception, and gesture.
