La vierge folle

The occasion was a performance by the legendary dancer Isadora Duncan at the theater La Monnaie in Brussels. The artist was determined to capture her exuberant temperament in a sculpture. His choice of model was obvious.

Wouters would never again match the directness and dynamism, as well as the unusual joie de vivre and informality emanating from this work in any other sculpture. 

“The Mad Maiden” is a powerful, radiant female figure. The work can also be read as an ode to a happy, carefree moment. But one can also question it: attributing the trait “madness” or “wildness” to women is peculiar to 20th-century modernity. The association of the masculine with reason and the feminine with the emotional is being questioned today.

In his brief career at the beginning of the 20th century, Rik Wouters produced an entire oeuvre of paintings, drawings, and sculptures. He is Belgium’s most famous Fauvist, known for the color palette in his paintings. Yet Wouters felt that he was first and foremost a sculptor.