Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Childbirth
Alice Neel American
Not on view
Childbirth is one of the earliest paintings in the history of Western art to represent a woman giving birth, at a moment, no less, when society had little tolerance for explicit depictions of the subject. A study in both tension and endurance, Childbirth depicts Goldie Goldwasser, a woman Neel encountered at the maternity where her son Richard was born. With swollen breasts and bruised eyes, Goldwasser thrashes amid her bedsheets while her arms twist unnaturally around her neck. Neel submitted this painting to a 1940 exhibition organized by the left-leaning group United American Artists.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
