Alice Neel faced many personal hardships throughout her life, including the death of her infant daughter Santillana from diphtheria. A disease that posed a major threat to children before vaccinations. This loss highly affected Neel’s experiences of motherhood, poverty, and grief, which can be reflected in her art. Living in poverty during the 1920s, Neel had limited access to medical care, leading her to great guilt. Once her daughter-in-law recalled Neel stating, “If only I had a stove to warm my apartment up, I could have saved my child’s life.” This guilt mirrored many struggles for many women and children faced during that time. Neel’s artwork focused on the true emotions women often struggled with. Displaying the vulnerability and strength of women fighting for respect and visibility. The painting’s direct gaze and unusual posture are fighting back against traditional beauty standards. During the Great Depression, Neel participated in the Works Progress Administration (WPA), earning $30 a week for her paintings, which highly shaped her artistic style. In the 1970s, Neel’s financial situation took a major dent due to stagflation, which was the economic crisis in New York City. Despite these struggles, Neel’s Portrait of Lucille Phides was more than just an aesthetic but can be critiqued as a social issue within her time. Recognizing women and people of color showing empathy for the portrayal of individuals who often were overlooked by mainstream society was reflected in portraits. She would embrace her subjects as their true selves, with deep true emotions. As the New York Times noted, Neel was “an early feminist, inborn bohemian, erstwhile social realist, lifelong activist, and staunchly representational painter who bravely persisted, depicting the people and world around her through the heydays of abstract expressionism, pop, and minimalism.”

Work Cited:

• Zwirner, David, Alice Neel/ART + MEMORY, Aug 22, 2023, youtu.be/LNdLHHqynKc?si=ZsVkam… 
• Smith, Roberta. “Alice Neel: People Come First.” The New York Times, 29 July 2021,

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by Abigail Anguiano

Neel was often seen as a creative and talented portrait painter, especially with her artwork containing women. Her depictions of women were very far from the ideal person, which led her to shy away from traditional beauty standards. Capturing her subjects with the genuine reality of the female body and face, adding imperfections such as wrinkles, stretch marks, and sagging skin. Also emphasizing and not being afraid to show the complexity of women’s emotions. Portraying feelings that represented sadness, exhaustion, or frustration, allowing these emotions to be the highlight throughout her painting. Neel’s painting of women was not subjected to a certain class of women; she painted various social, economic, and racial backgrounds. Embracing diversity throughout her artwork was one of Neel’s commitments to portray the full spectrum of women’s experiences. Her depiction of Black women in healthcare had a major effect and was an old statement during the civil rights era. Motherhood is a consistent theme through her artwork as she depicts the exhaustion and emotional toll that motherhood holds. Showing the rawness of these experiences beyond the roles of caregivers, individuals, and mothers. Not making her artwork appealing to the traditional “male gaze” as it was more direct and reflected strength, challenging others’ expectations. For example, one of her most famous artworks, “Mother and Child,” depicts the intimate and exhausting reality of motherhood. A mother’s face is seen tired as the child clings to her, lost in her hand. Neel's use of colors and brushwork emphasizes the emotional depth, portraying the complexity of maternal love and exhaustion. One of the biggest impacts of Neel's journey throughout motherhood was the death of her daughter Santillana, who died from diphtheria.

Work Cited:

Monie, Savita. "Seeing Myself in Alice Neel’s Mother and Child." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 4 May 2021, www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/alice-neel-mother-and-child 

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by Abigail Anguiano

The portrait of Lucille Rhodes by Alice Neel was understood as a part of a larger cultural context during the Vietnam War’s end and the height of the 1970s feminist movement. The war had left many people mortified, particularly artists and activists with the trauma of this conflict. It caused protest, loss of life, and the questioning of U.S. foreign policy, creating an atmosphere of intense distrust. In the context of the portrait of Lucille Rhodes, it can reflect the emotional intensity. Often Neel’s subjects in her painting highlighted their psychological states and personal struggles. The painting shows a pregnant woman lost in her thoughts, lying down, not with a reaction of comfort, but it can be seen as a subtle nod to the struggles in the era. Neel’s work captures people in moments of vulnerability, reflecting the sense of feeling lost and questioning the future after the post-Vietnam War period. With the feminist movement in the United States, it was where women challenged traditional gender roles, wanting equal rights, reproductive freedom, workplace equality, and social justice. For example, a feminist writer, Gloria Steinem, went undercover as a Playboy Bunny, stating, “The debasement of women… To go in and out of the club as a Bunny, being nothing but a set of body parts, having the men say exactly what they wanted to, was just awful. The sexism and low wages that women faced in these clubs.” This period was a landmark in history as the legalization of abortion (Roe v. Wade in 1973) and growing activism for women. Lucille Rhose was painted during the height of the feminist movement as a way for Neel to discuss feminist principles. Embracing the feminist ideas of autonomy getting portrayed differently and self-expression. Showing women in all their depth and humanity, rather than traditional model-like figures.

Work Cited:

Feminism: The Second Wave." National Women's History Museum, 2020, www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/feminism-second-wave

Rosen, Ruth. "A Brief History of 1970s Feminism." ThoughtCo., Dotdash Meredith, 28 Jan. 2020, www.thoughtco.com/1970s-feminism-timeline-3528911 

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by Abigail Anguiano