Little known during her lifetime, Alice Neel is now regarded as one of the most radical painters of the twentieth century. A champion of social justice, she painted still lifes, cityscapes, landscapes and the people she encountered on the streets of New York, from her family and friends to Puerto Rican immigrants, homosexual couples, single mothers and African American writers. ‘For me, people come first,’ Neel once said. ‘I have tried to assert the dignity and eternal importance of the human being.’ Devoid of any sentimentality, this striking portrait of the American feminist, activist and artist Irene Peslikis is evidence of Neel’s unflinching approach to her subjects. See it at the Centre Pompidou this autumn in the first monographic exhibition in France dedicated to the artist.

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