Alice Neel

American, 1900-1984

Alice Neel was a fiercely independent American painter known for her psychologically charged portraits that captured the humanity, vulnerability, and resilience of her subjects. Born in Pennsylvania and trained at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, Neel moved to New York in the 1920s and spent much of her life painting friends, neighbors, artists, political figures, and strangers.

Working in an era dominated by abstraction, Neel remained committed to figuration, developing a singular style marked by expressive line, saturated color, and a refusal to idealize. Her portraits often appear intimate and emotionally direct, imbued with a painterly looseness that reveals both the sitter’s presence and Neel's gaze. She captured overlooked communities in Spanish Harlem, mothers and children, the elderly, and herself—each rendered with emotional truth.

Though long under-recognized by the art establishment, Neel’s work gained prominence in her later years and has since become central to conversations around portraiture, feminism, and social realism. Today, her paintings are held in major institutions worldwide, celebrated not only for their formal strength but for their unwavering commitment to portraying life as it is.