Painting : Peeling Onions, By Lilly Martin Spencer

As I spent the day in the Philadelphia Museum of Art many paintings appealed to my interest.

Seeing the art in person truly made me see the beauty and captivity a painting can hold. Each gallery was filled with different American works. My favorite kind of paintings are the ones I can look at and immediately write a story in my head about what is happening, even if it not what the artist intended. As I was going through the galleries one painting in particular stuck in my mind. I was fortunate enough to experience a special exhibition called, “Audubon to Warhol.” It was composed of different works acquired from private and public collections. I was lured to the emotions that was captured by the main figure in one of the works. I was drawn not only to the beauty of the painting, but the story it shared. The painting I chose was Peeling Onions, by Lilly Martin Spencer.

Peeling Onions, by Lilly Martin Spencer was painted in 1852. It is an oil on canvas painting showing domestic life in America. As I approached this painting the feeling of curiosity became overwhelming as for the woman pictured seemed disconcerted . It was not until I got closer that I realized the woman in the painting was slicing an onion hence the name of the painting Peeling Onions. Although, that would justify for the woman 's tears, her face showed more emotions to me than just eyes watering over onion fumes. The painting presents a single figure, a woman, with a dark background. Keeping the focus on her and her kitchen duties. She is represented as a hard working woman. It was not rare for Spencer to use her domestic help as models for her painting. She has completed other works of art portraying the everyday life of woman. The woman wears a blue dress wi...

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... be the woman 's fitted blue dress with a lace trim around the collars and pleads laying vertically down the front. The three sewing pins in the shoulder and the rolled up sleeves also add to the dress. On the table I have already mentioned the spoon, but the details in the fruit as well leave an impression of realism. The way the apples shine, the shading on the peaches, the crumbs left on the table, and the rings in the onion slices all appear to be real enough you can reach out a grab them. The cloth Spencer painted draping half on half off the table showing the stitches in the fabric represent an exquisite component to the still life.

Visually this image does not disappoint the viewer. From the figures Spencer chose to paint to the lighting and detail used to bring the painting alive, Peeling Onions is a magnificent display of a domestic genre and still life.