- I saw your work for the first time in 2010, at the Whitechapel Gallery.
- I had never heard of you. I only went because I was lonely and someone asked me if I felt like coming with her to the Whitechapel Gallery, to see some paintings by Alice Neel.
- I was lonely enough, and aware enough that my loneliness was starting to put people off a bit, that I said yes way too quickly and enthusiastically.
- Loneliness begets loneliness, and the more aware you are of it the worse it gets, because the more aware you are of it the more other people can tell how frantic you are, and the less they want to be around you.
- It’s possible that you are familiar with this cycle, although perhaps not.
- It seems like you were always right in the middle of things, and that you never really had time to be lonely.
- This is of course a reductive view of loneliness – people can be lonely in the middle of a family, or at a party surrounded by their most beloved and supportive friends. They can be lonely in the middle of painting portraits of Frank O’Hara and Andy Warhol and Clement Greenberg’s small daughter in their cool New York studio.
- It’s possible that I pretended some familiarity with your work. Maybe I thought it would make me seem less lonely.
- It doesn’t work like that, as you know. When someone is lonely like that, it announces itself like a sign.
- You know that. You painted lonely people all the time, and that’s what I remember thinking when I walked into the gallery: This is a person who knows what loneliness looks like.
- To me, that is almost the distinguishing feature of your portraits: the people in them are so often marooned on the shitty islands of themselves, and there’s just nothing they can do about it, you can tell.
- I don’t know how you get to paint like that. Either it comes from knowing loneliness inside out yourself, or from being able to spot it in others.
- Probably both. In your case, I would have to conclude that it was probably both.
- Happy birthday.
Happy Birthday, Alice Neel!
You painted lonely people all the time, and that’s what I remember thinking when I walked into the gallery: This is a person who knows what loneliness looks like.
Popula is 100% ad-free, reader-supported journalism accountable only to you. Every dollar of your subscription goes straight to our work. Thank you for supporting Popula.
A meeting in reality and in imagination
In the photo she had been shouting so hard the veins on her neck stood out.
Each comment or response costs a tiny ETH fee of 0.00034 (about 5¢ in Ethereum cryptocurrency), payable from your Metamask.io wallet (the wallet is free, and takes just a moment to add to your browser). This system helps protect Popula conversations from trolls, fakers, Cambridges Analytica and other malign influences.
If you haven’t got any ETH yet and you’re a Popula subscriber, please write to hey@popula.com with your subscriber email address and MetaMask wallet address, and we’ll send you a little bit to get started! It’s pretty easy and a lot of fun to use, Yay.
If you’d like to learn more about cryptocurrency, Ethereum, and how Popula is using these new technologies to help protect speech rights and the free press, please visit our FAQ page.
We’re having trouble checking your subscriber status. Try refreshing the page.
Welcome! To leave a comment, you’ll need to log in, and also have your MetaMask wallet ready with some ETH cryptocurrency available.
It’s easy! Just visit metamask.io to install an in-browser MetaMask wallet. If you’re a new subscriber, write to hey@popula.com for $2 in free ETH crypto!
Thank you for being a Popula subscriber! As a subscriber, you may leave comments, but you have to be logged in as commenter here first. This is an additional login—the login for your commenting privileges—and you’ll stay logged in after you log in the first time.
We’ve sent an email to your registered address at … with your commenting details. Please follow the directions in the email to open your commenting privileges and then come back here to leave your first comment!
Thanks for registering! Please log in and you can get started commenting.
You need to connect to the Main Ethereum Network before you can leave a comment. Click on your MetaMask icon so the window pops up, then select ‘Main Ethereum Network’ from the network-chooser dropdown at the top.
You’re logged in and ready to leave comments! All you need is a MetaMask wallet and a little ETH cryptocurrency, just like with our microtipping system.
If you know what MetaMask is and have it installed, activate MetaMask and refresh:
Each comment costs 5¢ in Ethereum cryptocurrency to post! Just write your comment and click the green button. Thank you, Popula subscriber, for joining us in the new world of cryptoeconomics! Please don’t forget to set your wallet address in order to receive tips on your comments.
Alas! commenting is not yet available on your mobile device. Each comment costs a little ETH cryptocurrency to post, and for now that requires a regular computer.
So please go to your laptop, install the MetaMask browser plugin, and hold forth!