The quiet ride by Raquel Reis
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Oil on Arches paper
Dimensions: 29 x 42 cm
Year: 2025
Price: $682.00 USD
Status: available
The Quiet Ride captures a brief, unremarkable moment, transforming it into a scene of quiet contemplation. This original oil painting on paper depicts a man asleep on the subway, caught between stations and thoughts. Inspired by a stranger, the artist elevates a common scene from daily life into a moment of stillness Rendered with expressive brushstrokes, the abstract expressionism style adds depth and emotion to this figurative piece. The oil paint brings rich color and texture to the paper, enhancing the dreamlike quality of the subject The artwork invites the viewer to reflect on the small moments of peace found amidst the hustle and bustle of city life. It would be a wonderful addition to a living room, bedroom, or office, where its calming presence can be fully appreciated
Why collect this work?
The sleeping passenger is compressed into a shallow grid of seat, floor and red-edged panels. That spatial pressure makes quiet appear provisional, a pause held inside the rigid structure of public transit.
- Reis describes her figures as reconstructions of observed or remembered experience rather than portraits. Here, anonymity is sustained by closed eyes, simplified features and a posture that communicates through weight rather than identity.
- In the photograph, the head tilts sharply while folded arms and bent legs create a compact zigzag. The brown bag anchors the lower body, and its squared shape counters the figure’s curving outline.
- The catalogue identifies oil on Arches paper, dated 2025, at 29 by 42 cm. Oil can provide opaque colour and revision, while the modest paper format suits the concentrated, observational scale of this scene.
- Placed among representations of urban movement, this work would complicate the usual emphasis on speed. It treats commuting as an interval when the body temporarily withdraws, despite remaining publicly visible.
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.
