The First People (I-IV)

‘I’ve never had a baby before, I was 36, and it was fascinating and also scary that suddenly there’s this new human being in the world that is your responsibility. So all these different emotions that is part of the birth of a child, I wanted to make paintings that could express that,’ explains Marlene Dumas, speaking about her four adult-sized baby portraits. She based the works on Polaroids taken of her newborn daughter and a friend’s child. The artist attaches a special meaning to Polaroids: due to their direct, physical nature, she prefers to think of them almost as drawings.

What makes this quadriptych striking is that the figures shown are nothing like the idealised babies you see in ads. ‘No Pampers babies,’ according to Dumas. The infants appear vulnerable, with bloated bellies, contorted features, thin skin and limbs all out of proportion to their bodies. Their hands gesture involuntarily, while their gaze is cross-eyed or glassy, as if they are looking right through you.

Here, Dumas shows us the raw reality of newborns, who are anything but perfect or clean – just as the actual process of childbirth is often far from the cliché of a radiant new beginning. ‘Motherhood is a shock,’ according to Dumas. ‘You don't realise what babies actually look like.’ These ‘first people’ embody that confrontation with reality.

The impact of the paintings is reinforced by their enormous dimensions. Dumas has taken something small and made it larger-than-life: the canvases are as tall as an adult. Increasing or decreasing the scale of your subject is an essential aspect of painting. Still, these paintings often elicit an intense reaction. Many people find the babies to be ‘in your face’ and even ugly. This judgement seems strongly influenced by the dominant image from advertising, that of a baby who is always smiling and happy. As a counterpoint to that cliché, Dumas confronts us with an honest portrait of new life – not romanticised, but rather intimate, vulnerable and unvarnished.