Provenance: Provenance: Private Collection, Madrid, Spain

ABOUT THE WORK

Spanish-born painter Betsy Westendorp, through her long-spanning career, has created her own brand of realism. For decades, Westendorp has been known to capture her subjects vividly and fluently; translating onto canvas her perception and memory of others, and in the same respect, has been able to do so with her memory of places as well. In this piece entitled Noche de Junio En Madrid, Westendorp seemingly recalls the idyllic and cool summer nights from her youth in her motherland of Spain. Here, she brings the inherent lyricism of everyday life as she paints the mundane with utmost regard. Westendorp’s subjects seemingly inhabit a nostalgic aura that can tap into the viewers’ psyche, revealing the spirited yet fleeting aria of their youth. Westendorp’s work is a bittersweet love song that acts both as an ode to her younger and more unassuming days and a lullaby, reminding us of the inherent beauty of the ethereal moment.