Portrait of Marta Vidal Puig

Women do not have a past or golden age: we have no way of leaving except by constructing us, that is, forwards.

Rosi Braidotti

The woman portrayed by Lluïsa Vidal, is her sister, Marta Vidal. At first glance she may seem like a young lady who shows all the attitudes and behaviours required by any well-considered woman. But if we look at it a bit more we can see, however, that, unlike many female bourgeois portraits, she is smiling. This smile reminds us of the works by the Flemish painter Frans Hals that could be a sign of complicity that Marta Vidal dedicates to us since she is being portrayed by her sister, another woman, in a space of complicity and equality which isn't present in the other portraits of this room. But it could also be a smile of confidence, security and autonomy, we know that Marta Vidal was one of the first women of the family to be trained in a profession, which we could call "modern", as is that of being a secretary. Furthermore, we also know that she worked for Carmen Karr, the founder, in 1907, of the magazine Feminal. This was the first female magazine that would offer a space for expression for all the Catalan women and their demands. Feminal represented a transgression and a decisive turn when questioning the codes of the current genre of the time, and claimed a space for their own expression. The magazine was published for 10 years on a monthly basis until 1917. 

Portrait of Marta Vidal Puig. Lluïsa Vidal. 1907-1911