Original artwork description:

92 x 73 cm, music sheets and acrylic on canvas, 2022

Sabbat is naturally a painting that talks about witches.

In antiquity, alternately a charming and seductive woman (Circe) or crazy and passionate (Medea), the witch is incarnated in the divinity Hecate, a lunar goddess also associated with Artemis and Selene. She only comes out at night, often at full moon, accompanied by her pack of howling dogs.
In the Middle Ages, women were hunted down and condemned for witchcraft for no apparent reason. It is a real genocide that is taking place. In Alsace, in the 16th and 17th centuries, no fewer than 6,000 women were executed. In Rouffach, Thann and Sélestat there still remain the famous Witches' Towers, where they were locked up awaiting their trial.
Today, the witch has become a feminist symbol of resistance, rebellion and the fight against misogynistic oppression.

My painting focuses on the Sabbath, a gathering which generally takes place on Friday evening or Saturday. The women laugh, dance and make a pact with the devil. In Alsace, the Bollenberg hill is known for being a traditional Sabbath place. I therefore created a portrait of a naked woman, in movement, with only partitions to symbolize the dance, and a redhead, since redheaded women were like Witches in the Middle Ages, the proof of witchcraft being visible on their hair (red , color of the devil) and their skin (through freckles). I liked that the notes on the scores included these freckles. I also added dots on his left arm to add to the folklore.

Materials used:

Paper and acrylic on canvas

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