By Mela Muter (1876-1967), the first professional Jewish woman painter in Poland, Self-Portrait by Moonlight, ca. 1899-1900, oil on canvas, 72 × 46 cm, collection of Bolesława and Lina Nawrocki. She moved to Paris in 1901, becoming a French citizen in 1927. #WomensHistoryMonth #womanartist #womenartists #art #painting #oilpainting #art

She lived a life marked by tragedy. Born into money, married into money, died in poverty. From Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya: “The war and divorce left her in a precarious situation, alone, marked by the stigma of being Jewish and having participated in the Socialist cause, and without any connection with her original country and homeland. She died when she was 91 years old and left the works she possessed to an NGO.“

Also from Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya: ‘Mela Muter (1876 – 1967), one of the most recognised Polish artists in Paris during the twenties and thirties, it was said that she painted "like a man". Her art, very often far from the delicacies of how the women were supposed to have painted, was of a luminous and vibrant realism, which would absorb the post-impressionist European tendencies.
She came to Catalonia various times and here she didn't go unnoticed either: she got on well with people from the Catalan culture, among them being the art dealer and gallery owner Josep Dalmau, with whom she established a friendship and for this reason she painted various portraits of him.
During the Second World War she lived in Avignon, but problems with her sight slowed down her production.”