In Gabrielle d’Estrées in the 21st Century, Mona von Wittlage reinterprets the enigmatic gesture of the Renaissance masterpiece, where one sister delicately pinches the other’s breast. Here, two women, rendered in blood and graphite, sit draped in sheets, their gazes direct, self-possessed, and firmly anchored in the present.

Above them, a small vignette—an umbrella, sun loungers, a swimming pool—introduces an ironic echo of contemporary leisure, a sharp contrast to the intimacy and gravity of the central figures. The sacred gesture of touch becomes both sensual and analytical, questioning identity, desire, and the persistence of ritual across centuries.

The use of blood inscribes temporality and vulnerability into the image, transforming homage into dialogue. In this work, the Fontainebleau legacy meets the fragility of flesh, exposing how history, intimacy, and mortality continue to intertwine in the 21st century.