interior scene at a maternity ward; a nurse in white stands at C, holding a swaddled baby stands between two rows of beds; various female figures and babies throughout, including a woman in the LL holding a bald child in white, a doctor sitting with a woman in green with her shirt pulled down and a baby in her lap at LC, children lying on beds in the UL background, a black woman holding a toddler and a baby in the LR, and two more women at RC, wrapping and attending to babies

%C2%A9 The Estate of Alice Neel

Well Baby Clinic, 1928-1929

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On View in Gallery 376expand_more

Alice Neel has here depicted herself and second daughter Isabetta at a community health

clinic in New York City. They can be seen in the center of the painting at far right, a serene
moment of calm amid a chaotic scene. Neel’s first child died before the age of one just a year earlier.
The contorted faces and frenzied look to the beds and interior spaces may convey her anxiety and
protective feelings for Isabetta. Neel became known later for her psychologically charged portraits
that capture and express her sitters’ thoughts and personality. That intuition is already at work here.

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Details
Title
Well Baby Clinic
Artist Life
1900 - 1984
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2020.14
Curator Approved

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interior scene at a maternity ward; a nurse in white stands at C, holding a swaddled baby stands between two rows of beds; various female figures and babies throughout, including a woman in the LL holding a bald child in white, a doctor sitting with a woman in green with her shirt pulled down and a baby in her lap at LC, children lying on beds in the UL background, a black woman holding a toddler and a baby in the LR, and two more women at RC, wrapping and attending to babies

© The Estate of Alice Neel

Because of © restrictions, we can only show you a small image of this artwork. (You'll have to come see it in person.)