Who is this Person?

Who is that person? The question of who someone is, is so deep and profound that can we truly understand who someone is simply by looking at them? To a certain extent we can. Take for instance portrait number four. The woman appears to be in her mid-seventies and has well proportioned features which suggest she was attractive in her younger days. She wears a wedding ring on her left hand and yet she is all alone in the room where she sits. One would assume that her husband passed on recently due to the deep sorrow seen in her eyes. Her lips are pressed tightly together and her eyebrows scrunched in a manner that alludes to her grief. The woman’s overall expression reveals that she is not used to being alone and cannot stand the silence. She wants to embrace her death yet at the same time is scared to face it alone. Her slouched posture and limply laying hands give rise to the idea that she has given up on life and is waiting for the end. She looks very fragile from all the things she has witnessed throughout her long life. Her eyes are deep and reflective; probably of all the people she has met and places she has seen.

The clothing choice also reveals part of her personality. The woman is clad in a dull red robe that one would imagine belonged to her long lost husband. The robe looks worn as if she wears it all the time. She clearly cares more about comfort and feeling close to her husband than fashion or style in her old age. Her sole piece of jewelry is her wedding ring and even that does not look very fancy. At first glance most people would not notice that she was wearing one until further inspection of the portrait. The glasses she wears are simple and old fashioned which leads the observer to assume she has traditional values and was not materialistic. She loved people, not things and that is evident through her dress and the room she is waiting to die in.

Another expressive element of this portrait is the color. All of the colors have a darkened tone and look downcast. The artist even chose to make colors that are normally vibrant and full of life look sullen such as the oranges and reds. The fact that the woman is spending her time waiting in such a dreary room amplifies her hopelessness and depression. An interesting clue to her life is the fact that she has no pictures in the room. Most elderly people adorn their walls with pictures of loved ones and pets. The lonely woman in this portrait has no pictures up and that suggests she probably never had children and that the faces of her loved ones who left her are too painful to remember.

This portrait is indeed gloomy and sullen but there is something about this woman’s eyes that draws in observers. It has been said that a person’s eyes are the windows into their soul and this woman’s soul is crying out for companionship in her final days. She desperately wants somebody to talk with and share her life experiences with before she takes her final breath.