How should we interpret the controversial art of Balthus?

Are Balthus’s paintings of teenage girls exploitative or just provocations of an artist that is willing to go very far to create a powerful impression? Today, we discuss Balthus’s life and paintings and the way the world has reacted to them, so far. If you’d like to share your opinion about what these paintings say to you and how you look at them, join the comment section, so that we can understand different points of view and learn about how other people see them.
List of artworks in the video:
00:01 Balthus - Children, 1937
00:02 Balthus - The Street, 1933
00:10 Balthus - The Golden Days, 1944-1946
00:15 Balthus - Girl and Cat, 1937
00:20 Balthus - The Room, 1953
00:25 Balthus - Cathy Dressing, 1933
00:30 Balthus - The Cat in the Mirror, 1977-1980
00:35 Balthus - Painter and his Model, 1981
00:40 Balthus - Self-portrait, 1940
00:46 Balthus - Joan Miró and His Daughter Dolores, 1937-1938
00:50 Balthus - Sleeping Nude, 1980
00:58 Balthus - The King of Cats, 1935
01:16 Erich Klossowki - Landscape, circa 1920s
01:55 Maurice Denis - Portrait of the Artist at the Age of 18 Years, 1889
02:21 - 03:13 Balthasar Klossowski de Rola - Illustrations for Mitsou, published by Rotapfel-Verlag of Erlenbach-Zürich and Leipzig in 1921
03:22 Piero della Francesca - Flagellation of Christ, circa 1455
03:31 Pablo Picasso - Girl with a Mandolin, 1910
03:32 Rene Magritte - The Therapist, 1937
03:36 Wassily Kandinsky - Yellow Red Blue, 1925
03:41 John Deakin - Photograph of Francis Bacon for Vogue Magazine, 1962
03:47 Kazimir Malevich - The Black Square, 1915
03:53 Paul Klee - Untitled, 1933
03:58 Piero della Francesca - The Baptism of Christ, after 1451
04:03 Georges Seurat - A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884-1886
04:14 Balthus - Girl on a Bed, 1950
04:18 Balthus - Thérèse Dreaming, 1938
04:25 Balthus - The Guitar Lesson, 1934
05:30 Balthus - Alice, 1933
06:39 Balthus - Nude with Silk Scarf, 1982
08:16 Balthus - Pierre Matisse, 1938
13:35 Balthus - Thérèse, 1938
13:55 Balthus - Thérèse on a Bench Seat, 1939
14:15 Balthus - Portrait of Thérèse, 1936
14:35 Balthus - Photograph from a series of polaroid pictures of Anna Wahli, 1990-2000
16:20 Balthus - The Cat of La Méditerranée, 1949
18:49 Balthus - André Derain, 1936
20:23 Balthus - The Victim, 1938
22:41 Balthus - Katia Reading, 1974
24:57 Balthus - Still Life with a Figure, 1940
24:59 Balthus - Girl at a Window, 1957
25:04 Balthus - Portrait of Baroness Alain de Rothschild, 1958
25:08 Balthus - Landscape, 1939
25:11 Balthus - Still Life, 1956
25:38 Édouard Manet - Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, 1862-1863
25:42 Andres Serrano - Piss Christ, 1987
People mentioned in the video:
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, or Balthus (b. February 29, 1908, Paris, France - d. February 18, 2001, Rossinière, Switzerland) was a French and Polish modern painter
Baladine Klossowska de Rola (né Elisabeth Dorothea Spiro, 1886-1969) was a German painter and mother of the painter Balthus and of the writer and philosopher Pierre Klossowski
Erich Klossowski de Rola (1875-1949) German and Polish-French art historian and painter and father of the painter Balthus and writer and of the philosopher Pierre Klossowski
Pierre Klossowski de Rola (1905-2001) was a French - Polish writer, philosopher and artist and brother to painter Balthus
Antoinette de Watteville (1912-1997) was a Swiss aristocrat, art model and first wife of painter Balthus
Setsuko Ideta Klossowska de Rola (b.1942) is a Japanese painter and second wife of painter Balthus
Stanislas Klossowski de Rola (b.1942) is a British artist and son of painter Balthus and Antoinette de Watteville
Thaddeus (Thadée) Klossowski de Rola (b.1944) is a Swiss author, son of of painter Balthus and Antoinette de Watteville
Rainer Maria Rilke (1975-1926), Austrian poet and novelist
Jean Cocteau (1888-1963), French poet and visual artist
Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), French painter
Maurice Denis (1870-1943), French painter and writer
Piero Della Francesca (circa 1415-1492), Italian Renaissance painter
Georges Seurat (1859-1891), French painter
Francis Bacon (1909-1992), British painter
Andre Derain (1880-1954), French painter and sculptor
Andre Breton (1896-1966), French writer and poet
Joan Miró i Ferrà (1893-1983), Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramist
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), French writer, poet and aviator
Albert Camus (1913-1960), French writer and philosopher
Man Ray (1890-1976), American visual artist
Simonne de Beauvoir (1908-1986), French writer and philosopher
Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French writer, philosopher and literary critic
Michel Foucault (1926-1984), French writer, philosopher and literary critic
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish painter, sculptor, ceramist and theater set designer
Thérèse Blanchard (1925-1950), known for being a model for painter Balthus
Anna Wahli (b.1982?) known for being a model for painter Balthus
Instagram: layersinart
Thank you for watching!

[@DmytryNikolaienko]

Может быть надо подождать в оценкой

[@user-nb4ex5zk3w]

Absolutely clear...no need to intellectualise his obsession...and those of his arty friends. A great artist ? no!

[@LayersInArt]

He is considered to be one of the greatest artists in history, in spite or because of what seems to appear obsessively as his preferred subject... Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts!

[@coverartist8899]

Another time...another world altogether...how relevant is it now?

[@LayersInArt]

Great question! Thank you for watching!

[@michaeljohnangel6359]

You do realise that the cat in the first image in "The Cat" section is a (really bad) copy of a cat by Hogarth, don't yopu?

[@LayersInArt]

What a great observation, I had no idea about Hogarth's cat, thank you for pointing it out!

[@Thepdela1]

The Cat in The Mirror is one of (at least?) three pictures with similar poses - thank you for the Hogarth reference (a bad copy? that is your opinion) which I find considerably elucidates the three pictures. In the picture shown in Layers in Art film the girl is naked and is showing the cat its own reflection - in the Hogarth the Cat is looking hungrily at a caged bird with clear intent - so the Girl seems to be showing the cat its own predatory face and thus obscuring her own nakedness from the cat's gaze though of course not from ours ! In the other two versions of the set up the Girl is clothed, in different fashions, and she has the mirror facing herself which seems to elicit quite different responses from the Cat.
The Mediterranean Cat - about to consume his fish platter - caught my attention as the Cat, although certainly a Cat, also seems to be very Fox like!???
Balthus does seem to have a lot of fun with his audience!!

[@LayersInArt]

@@Thepdela1 Thank you for watching and joining the conversation! Indeed, that cat of the Mediterranean certainly looks like a fox! :)

[@shirleyboy8859]

If "Theresa" was painted on a Beach, on a Sun Lounger, in a Bikini no body would bat an eyelid..... She is fully dressed.... It is the mind of the viewer that is the problem.... :-))

[@LayersInArt]

Thank you for watching and joining the talk :)

[@shirleyboy8859]

@@LayersInArtThis is YT... You don`t have to look very far to see a Thong Bikini worn by Ladies of All ages..... :-)) xx