The Girl with the Toilet Roll by Retrotimes

In *Girl with the Toilet Roll*, a muse with a world-famous appearance faces an unexpectedly mundane confrontation. With her nose turned up, eyes narrowed and a look of revulsion, she holds a roll of toilet paper out in front of her, as if she urgently wishes to make it clear to the viewer that beauty sometimes has a less elegant flip-side. The work explicitly plays with the visual language of the Dutch Masters. The dark background, the soft light on the face, the blue headscarf, the pearl and the warm ochre yellow immediately evoke the atmosphere of a seventeenth-century portrait. It is precisely this that makes the modern addition so effective. The toilet roll is mundane, recognisable and completely out of place in this classical setting – and that is precisely where the humour lies.

The facial expression, too, shatters the solemnity of the traditional portrait. Not a mysterious, serene gaze, but a reaction that everyone understands without further explanation. The result strikes a balance between art-historical parody, absurdist humour and a visual joke that only really works thanks to the convincing, painterly execution.

‘Girl with the Toilet Roll’ is created for those who like to view classical art with a healthy dose of humour. A quirky eye-catcher for the loo, bathroom, hall, hospitality venue or eclectic interior. Familiar enough to evoke immediate recognition, yet strange enough to guarantee that visitors will look twice.