Balthus’s model, Thérèse Blanchard, appears—as the title of this work suggests—unaware of her surroundings and lost in thought. Blanchard was about twelve or thirteen when the artist painted this canvas. She would figure in at least nine other compositions, either alone or with her cat or her brother. Balthus, like countless modern artists, believed the subject of the child to be a source of raw spirit, not yet molded by societal expectations. Many early twentieth‑century avant‑garde artists, from Paul Gauguin to Edvard Munch to Pablo Picasso, also viewed adolescent sexuality as a potent site of psychological vulnerability as well as lack of inhibition, and they projected these subjective interpretations into their work. While it may be unsettling to our eyes today, Thérèse Dreaming draws on this history.
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower left): Balthus. 1938.
[Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1938–51; stock no. 823; purchased from the artist on September 30, 1938, for $438.40, as "Young Girl Resting"; sold in June 1951, for $2,500, to McLane]; The Reverend James L. McLane, Los Angeles (1951–d. 1960); his widow, Mrs. James L. McLane, Los Angeles (1960–64); their son, Louis McLane, California (1964–79; on consignment May–December 1979 to Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, consignment no. C488; sold by Pierre Matisse on December 15, 1979 to Gelman); Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1979–his d. 1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA)
Washington, D. C. Museum of Modern Art Gallery. "Paris Painters of Today," January 31–February 26, 1939, no catalogue.
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Balthus: Paintings and Drawings," March 17–April 8, 1939, no. 2 (as "Jeune fille endormie").
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Figure Pieces in Modern Painting," January 20–February 14, 1942, no. 1 (as "The Dream").
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Balthus," March 15–April 3, 1949, no. 16 (as "Le Rêve").
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Balthus," December 19, 1956–February 3, 1957, no. 10 (as "The Dream [Le Rêve]," lent by The Reverend James L. McLane, Los Angeles).
Cambridge. New Gallery, Hayden Library, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Balthus," February 10–March 2, 1964, no. 10 (as "Le Reve," lent by Mrs. James L. McLane, Los Angeles).
Pasadena Art Museum. "A View of the Century," November 24–December 19, 1964, no. 29 (as "The Dream," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Louis McLane).
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Fifty Years of Modern Art, 1916–1966," June 14–July 31, 1966, no. 70 (as "Le Rêve," lent by Louis McLane).
London. Tate Gallery. "Balthus," October 4–November 10, 1968, no. 12 (as "The Dream [Thérèse and Her Cat]," lent by Mr. Louis McLane, California).
Marseilles. Musée Cantini. "Balthus," July–September 1973, no. 5 (as "Thérèse revant," lent by a private collection, U.S.A.).
Paris. Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne. "Balthus," November 5, 1983–January 23, 1984, no. 14 (lent by a private collection).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Balthus," February 29–May 13, 1984, no. 19 (lent by a private collection).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," December 12, 1989–April 1, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 203).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," April 19–July 15, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "La Colección de Pintura Mexicana de Jacques y Natasha Gelman," June 23–October 11, 1992, not in catalogue.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "De Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," June 18–November 1, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 227).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 111).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Balthus Remembered," March 27–May 27, 2001, no catalogue.
Cologne. Museum Ludwig. "Balthus: Aufgehobene Zeit. Gemälde and Zeichnungen 1932–1960 / Balthus: Time Suspended. Paintings and Drawings 1932–1960," August 18–November 4, 2007, no. 13.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "Balthus: 100e anniversaire," June 16–November 23, 2008, no. 43.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations," September 25, 2013–January 12, 2014, no. 9.
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. "Rétrospective Balthus," April 19–June 22, 2014, no. 21.
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Balthus," July 5–September 7, 2014, no. 21.
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. "Balthus," February 19–May 26, 2019, unnumbered cat.
Royal Cortissoz. "The Enigmatic Art of the Surrealist. Balthus." New York Herald Tribune (March 26, 1939), p. E8.
Alice Graeme. "Modern Art Gallery Shows Work of Parisian Painters." Washington Post (February 5, 1939), p. TS6, ill., calls it "Young Girl Resting".
D. B. "New Exhibitions of the Week: 'Wuthering Heights' Illustrations & Panels by Balthus." Art News 37 (March 25, 1939), p. 15.
Edward Alden Jewell. "European Artists in New Group Show." New York Times (January 24, 1942), p. 15.
"Age of Innocence by Balthus." Harper's Bazaar 81 (July 1947), pp. 44–45, ill. (color), calls it "The Dream" and notes that it is owned by the Pierre Matisse Gallery.
James Thrall Soby. Balthus. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1956, pp. 7, 35, no. 10, ill. p. 19.
Edward B. Henning. Fifty Years of Modern Art, 1916–1966. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1966, unpaginated, p. 197, no. 70, ill.
John Russell inBalthus. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1968, pp. 7–8, 17, 37, no. 12, ill. p. 55.
Jean Leymarie. Balthus. 2nd enl. ed. (1st ed., 1979). New York, 1982, p. 57, ill. p. 130, calls it "Girl and Cat" and dates it 1937.
Stanislas Klossowski de Rola. Balthus. London, 1983, p. 95, colorpl. 22.
Gérard Régnier, ed. Balthus. Exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne. Paris, 1983, p. 138, no. 14, ill. pp. 137 (color), 348, no. 52.
Sabine Rewald. Balthus. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, pp. 41, 92, no. 19, fig. 67, ill. p. 93 (color).
Jacques Paul Dauriac. "Paris, Balthus." Pantheon 42 (April/May/June 1984), ill. p. 186.
René Micha. "Balthus: Des gloses essentielles sur l'un des grands peintres de ce temps." Art International 27 (April–June 1984), ill. p. 6.
Jed Perl. "Balthus in New York." New Criterion 2 (May 1984), p. 11.
Pierre Schneider inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 26.
Sabine Rewald inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, pp. 201–3, 293, ill. (color and bw).
Sabine Rewald. "Balthus: Erotik Pür." Pan no. 11 (1990), pp. 28–29, ill. (color).
Jean Leymarie. Balthus. Rev. enl. ed. (1st ed., 1979). New York, 1990, unpaginated.
Yves Bonnefoy. L'Improbable et autres essais. Rev. ed. (1st ed., 1959). Paris, 1992, p. 51, calls it "Le Rêve".
Stanislas Klossowski de Rola. Balthus. New York, 1996, colorpl. 29, lists it in a private collection.
Claude Roy. Balthus. [Paris], 1996, ill. p. 37 (color).
Emma Crichton-Miller. "Behind Those Tactile Layers of Paint." Financial Times (London) (March 1, 1997), p. 8.
Judith H. Dobrzynski. "20th Century Art Treasures Are Left to Met." New York Times (May 6, 1998), p. B6, ill.
William S. Lieberman. "Donation Gelman: l'École de Paris au Metropolitan." Connaissance des arts no. 554 (October 1998), p. 106, fig. 6 (color).
Sabine Rewald. "Balthus's Thérèses." Metropolitan Museum Journal 33 (1998), pp. 305, 312–13, fig. 6.
Michael Kimmelman. Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere. New York, 1998, pp. 5–6, ill.
Virginie Monnier in Virginie Monnier and Jean Clair. Balthus: Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works. Paris, 1999, pp. 134–35, no. P112, ill.
Alain Vircondelet. Les Chats de Balthus. [Paris], 2000, pp. 33–34, ill. p. 83 (color).
Roberta Smith. "In a Brash Yet Refined School, Everyone Belongs Together." New York Times (June 15, 2001), p. E37.
Virginie Monnier inBalthus. Ed. Jean Clair. Exh. cat., Palazzo Grassi, Venice. [Milan], 2001, p. 262, fig. 1 (color).
Philip Rylands. "Venice: Balthus." Burlington Magazine 143 (December 2001), p. 783, dates it 1939.
Sabine Rewald. Balthus: Time Suspended. Paintings and Drawings 1932–1960. Exh. cat., Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Munich, 2007, pp. 21–22, 68–69, 158, no. 13, ill. (color).
Andrew Brink. Desire and Avoidance in Art: Pablo Picasso, Hans Bellmer, Balthus, and Joseph Cornell. Psychobiographical Studies with Attachment Theory. New York, 2007, pp. 122, 125.
Martin Seidel. "Balthus. 'Aufgehobene Zeit. Gemälde und Zeichnungen 1932–1960'." Kunstforum International 188 (October–November 2007), ill. p. 415 (color).
Jonathon Keats. "The Man Behind the Curtain." Art and Antiques 31 (September 2008), p. 104, ill. (color).
Cristina Carrillo de Albornoz. "Balthus at 100: A Celebration." Art Newspaper 17 (November 2008), ill. p. 44 (color).
Stéphane Guégan in "Balthus: Légende du siècle." Beaux Arts no. 288 (June 2008), p. 87, ill. (color).
Camille Viéville. Balthus et le portrait. Paris, 2011, pp. 61, 65, 180, fig. 37 (color).
Sabine Rewald. Balthus: Cats and Girls. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2013, pp. 11, 74, 79, 81, 88, 98, 102, 159 n. 22, no. 9, ill. pp. 37 (color detail), 78 (color), notes that it is "the largest and most masterly painting Balthus created of Thérèse Blanchard".
Roberta Smith. "Infatuations, Female and Feline." New York Times (September 27, 2013), p. C30, ill. (installation photo, Exh. New York 2013–14).
Franklin Einspruch. "Art: 'Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations'." New Criterion 32 (December 2013), p. 57.
Dominique Radrizzani inRétrospective Balthus. Ed. Dominique Radrizzani and Mari Komoto. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Tokyo, 2014, pp. 64, 195, 231, no. 21, ill. p. 65 (color).
Mari Komoto inRétrospective Balthus. Ed. Dominique Radrizzani and Mari Komoto. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Tokyo, 2014, pp. 203–4.
Akiko Kobayashi inRétrospective Balthus. Ed. Dominique Radrizzani and Mari Komoto. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Tokyo, 2014, p. 212.
Masato Ozaki inRétrospective Balthus. Ed. Dominique Radrizzani and Mari Komoto. Exh. cat., Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Tokyo, 2014, pp. 214–15.
Ara H. Merjian. "Balthus / René Magritte." Frieze no. 162 (April 2014), p. 140, fig. 2 (color).
Leah Ollman. "Art: Inspired by Young Therese." Los Angeles Times (January 5, 2014), p. E8, ill.
Maude Trottier. "Review. Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations." RACAR: Revue d'art canadienne 39, no. 1 (2014), p. 95.
Alejandro Cesarco. "Alberto Giacometti and Balthus in Gallery 907." The Artist Project: What Artists See When They Look at Art. Ed. Chris Noey. New York, 2017, pp. 54–55, ill. (color, installation views).
Michiko Kono inBalthus. Ed. Raphaël Bouvier. Exh. cat., Fondation Beyeler, Basel. Basel, 2018, pp. 115–16, 164, ill. p. 45 (color).
Douglas Eklund, Marilyn F. Friedman, and Randall R. Griffey inMaking The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 167–68, 257 n. 48.
Editorial Assistant Nadja Hansen spoke with Sabine Rewald, curator of Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations, to discuss her personal fascination with the artist and her latest research regarding Balthus's subjects.
Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski) (French, Paris 1908–2001 Rossinière)
1985
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