Curatorial Narrative Emile Claus’s “Profile of a Woman and Wheatsheaves” is a masterful exercise in capturing the fleeting effects of natural light on the human form. Painted in a style that blends the Impressionist concern with capturing the ephemeral qualities of modern life, Claus’s work eschews the more obvious gestures of his contemporaries for a subtler approach to color and texture. The brushwork is characterized by a thick, almost sculptural impasto that imbues the surface with a tactile quality, drawing the viewer’s eye into the recessed areas of the composition.When enlarged to 62×44 inches, Claus’s palette becomes even more nuanced, its earthy tones of brown and green taking on an almost geological depth. The wheatsheaves in the background, once a mere suggestion, now loom large against the distant hills, their rust-red hue subtly infusing the entire space with a sense of warmth and energy. The spatial rhythm of the compo