Henriette Daux’s studio self portrait enters North Carolina collection

Henriette Daux’s “Self Portrait at the Easel”, a large scale oil painting from around 1890, has entered the collection of the North Carolina Museum of Art following its presentation at TEFAF Maastricht 2026 by Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art. The acquisition marks a significant moment in the recognition of this Parisian painter’s remarkable body of work and her pioneering assertion of female artistic identity.

In the painting, Daux depicts herself seated within her studio, palette and brushes held with quiet authority, her gaze direct and unflinching as she confronts the viewer. Dressed in black with a jewelled brooch catching the light, she commands the composition with an air of professional dignity. The studio behind her, rendered in warm ochres and deep reds, suggests both intimacy and contemplative solitude. Her pale complexion and composed expression evoke the psychological depth characteristic of fin de siècle portraiture, while the composition itself carries the forward thinking sensibility of early Symbolism.

What renders this self portrait so strikingly modern is Daux’s refusal of conventional feminine presentation. Rather than positioning herself as an object of beauty or muse, she asserts her identity as a working artist, tool in hand, engaged in the act of creation. The painting becomes a powerful declaration of professional agency, a visual manifesto against the historical erasure of women from the artistic canon. Her steady gaze and composed demeanour transform what might have been a conventional studio portrait into something far more revolutionary: a statement of artistic authority and intellectual presence that resonates across the centuries.

Imagery courtesy of TEFAF (@tefaf).