The Fan
- Artist: Marie Laurencin
- Date: c.1919
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 305 x 300 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is *The Fan* by Marie Laurencin, painted in 1919. The work sits in a muted palette of blues, rose and grey, a signature tone of Laurencin’s early Parisian period. Two women occupy the space, each framed on a table: one in an oval frame, the other perhaps a reflection or a portrait. The ambiguity is deliberate, suggesting intimacy and the blurred line between self and other.
Laurencin’s world is almost exclusively female, offering a vision of female autonomy. The fan—an accessory she adored—sits prominently, a symbol of vanity and a hint that someone else may be present in the scene. This painting echoes a 1922 series of etchings titled *L’Eventail*, created to illustrate poems dedicated to her by friends.
Overall, the brushwork is loose yet detailed where it matters—particularly on the fan and the women’s faces—creating a subtle play of light and shadow that invites viewers to ponder identity, presence, and the intimate spaces Laurencin so masterfully painted.
See it in person
The Fan is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
