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Conference
La Tour and Women, Lecture by Sophie Doudet
Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 8:30 a.m.Lecture Led by Sophie Doudet
A young woman crushes a flea on her stomach, another, towering in her red dress, leans toward Job to mock him; penitent or dreamy Madonnas contemplate themselves in the mirror; two women watch over a sleeping newborn in the silent night; a charming card player and her beautiful accomplice prepare to swindle an unsuspecting victim… Whether saints, beggars, musicians, gypsies, or courtesans, women occupy a mysterious and powerful place in the work of Georges de La Tour. How does he depict them? What unique and original message do these women convey, one that no other painter had entrusted to them before?
Georges de La Tour, The Penitent Magdalene, c. 1635–1640, oil on canvas, 113 × 92.7 cm, Washington, National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, Credit: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Speaker Presentation
Sophie Doudet
Sophie Doudet is a lecturer in French literature at the Institut d’Études Politiques in Aix-en-Provence, where she teaches literature as well as the history of arts and ideas. Her academic research focuses on the aesthetic writings of André Malraux and the work of Albert Camus. She is the author of biographies—including works on Malraux, Churchill, and Mme de Staël published by Gallimard, and of historical novels for young readers published by Scrinéo. She has also published two books in the “Le roman d’un chef-d’œuvre” series at the Ateliers Henry Dougier, dedicated to Goya’s The Third of May 1808 and Georges de La Tour’s The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds.