I’m still thinking about Alice Neel’s phenomenal show, People Come First that I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May. Here is my blog post on that show, if you missed it. I had a long list of art I wanted to see this past stay in NYC, and knew I had to stop by Alice Neel: The Early Years at David Zwirner in Chelsea. I never miss an opportunity to see her work, and boy I am glad I went!

“Painted from life and from memory in New York—first in Greenwich Village, and later in Spanish Harlem, where Neel lived until 1962 before moving to the Upper West Side—the works in this exhibition examine the foundational decades of Neel’s career, when she was struggling as an artist and mother during a time of social and economic upheaval and change. They reflect her commitment to figuration while abstraction was ascendant as well as her sensitivity and compassion toward her subjects.” (David Zwirner)

There were wonderful quotes on the walls throughout the gallery. Here are a few of my favorites. Isn’t Alice Neel fabulous?