Painting Portrait of Marilyn, artist Diana Markevich

• Artist: Diana Markevich
• Title: "Portrait of Marilyn"
• Size: 30 × 40 cm
• Materials: oil on canvas mounted on hardboard
• Original hand-painted artwork

"Portrait of Marilyn" is a vertical bust-length portrait in the image of Marilyn Monroe. The heroine is shown slightly turned: her head is tilted a little, and her gaze from under half-lowered lids is directed straight at the viewer. All the recognisable details are there: platinum hair set in soft waves, arched brows, winged eyeliner, a beauty mark on the cheek and glossy dark red lips. Her bare shoulders are wrapped in white fluffy fur, and around her neck is a thin necklace of alternating dark and light stones. Behind the figure is a background of wide vertical red and white stripes, reminiscent of a theatre curtain or a poster. The figure fills almost the whole picture, so the portrait reads as large and close.

The work is painted in oil on canvas mounted on hardboard, in a realistic manner. The artist models the face carefully: the tonal transitions on the cheeks, cheekbones and neck are smooth, with almost no visible brushstrokes, and the light on the forehead, nose and chin is gathered into soft highlights. The lips are painted with glossy reflections, which makes them look moist and full. The hair is rendered with many fine light strands, and the fur with short, light strokes that create a sense of fluffy texture. The red stripes of the background are painted more freely and shimmer slightly in the light in places. The artist's signature in red paint is in the lower right corner.

The colour scheme is built on three main colours: a warm flesh-beige with golden tints, creamy white and a rich red. The red sounds both in the lips and in the background stripes, linking the portrait to its surroundings, while the white fur and light hair make the image soft and radiant. The lighting is even and studio-like, as in classic photographs of film stars from the middle of the last century. The mood of the work is glamorous, a little daring and at the same time nostalgic.

Diana Markevich is a contemporary Ukrainian artist who paints in oil in a realistic manner. Portraiture holds a special place in her work: she pays attention to accurately conveying a person's appearance, individual facial features, lighting and colour relationships. Commissioned realistic portraits make up a significant part of her practice.

The small 30 × 40 cm format allows the portrait to hang in a bedroom, a dressing room, next to a dressing table, in a hallway or in a beauty salon. The red-and-white palette looks good in retro or Art Deco interiors, or in a contemporary space with white walls and black and red accents. The painting will make a striking gift for a woman, for a fan of cinema and mid-20th-century style, or for someone who collects images of iconic figures.