Belle Haleine, eau de Violette

Throughout his career, Barnes has drawn from history, art, myth, and literature to create densely poetic and allusive paintings. His work has focused on metaphysical issues involving the nature of art. This painting is part of a series that explores the idea of transformation in relation to the manufacture of perfume. For Barnes, painting is like perfume; at its core is the transformation of abject material into something extraordinary and elusive.

Belle Haleine, eau de Violette pays homage to the ultimate artist-alchemist, Marcel Duchamp, who Barnes had known in the late 1950s. The title of the painting refers to Duchamp’s 1921 assisted ready-made of the same name, which was a pun on "eau de toilette" fragrances. Barnes quotes a number of Duchamp’s images in this enigmatic scene, including "Rose Sélavy" (Duchamp’s female alter-ego) in the foreground, and the cloud form from The Large Glass in the background.