Admit it: we’ve all wondered at some point if the women we know from famous portraits really looked anything like whatever rendition the artist gave to them. Thankfully, many things can be found on the internet, including the original models for famous works of art.
Gala Dalí (Salvador Dali)
Many painters used their own wives as models, and Salvador Dali was no exception. He allowed her to pose for his art, and in return she handled all his financial affairs. What a perfect marriage!
Pablo Picasso (Olga Khokhlova)
Olga Khokhlova was a gorgeous ballet dancer of Russian heritage. She remained Picasso’s wife for 37 years. The reflection of their difficult relationship we can see in the artist’s paintings: Olga looked beautiful and realistic at the beginning, and by the end of their relationship Picasso drew her in surrealistic and obscure manner.
Adele Bloch-Bauer (Gustav Klimt)
I thought the droopy eyes would be the hardest to pull of but that’s the part he nailed the most. Scary, isn’t it? She posed for many of Klimt’s paintings, the most famous being Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.
Jeanne Hébuterne (Amedeo Modigliani)
Jeanne Hébuterne was Modigliani’s common-law wife, the artist was madly in love with her. He painted about 25 of her portraits and that number would be much more bigger if Modigliani wouldn’t die from tuberculous meningitis at the age of only 35. Jeanne committed suicide the next day after her beloved husband died, she was pregnant with their second child.
Jeanne Samary (Renoir)
Jeanne Samary was a French theater actress. I can’t say he did a good job at copying her, yet I also can’t say he did a bad job. It’s like he took a known person and painted her from scratch – keeping some features and improving some others.
Sarah Bernhardt (Alphonse Mucha)
This Czech artist took the easy way out. He kind of took a famous actress and turned her into a poster, and for some reason everyone loved it. It’s just a poster of any random not-quite-ginger woman, to be honest.
