Liliane Tomasko: The Psyche of the Portrait

A composite image of three abstract works. The first image is split in half and seems to depict a female figure getting ready. She wears a black dress and is adjusting a navy blue hat atop her pale blue face (without features). The hat looks as though it has pink flowers and orange feathers, represented through thick brushstrokes.

The second image is of a grey, abstracted female shape with visible limbs in facial features, seemingly reclining. The figure is outlined with black paint and there is a large pink circle by the torso of the figure.

The third image is split in half vertically. The left half shows an abstracted figure with long blonde hair and what seems to be a patterned top, with red, white, yellow and brown sections. The background is white, brown and blue. The right half is more abstract, with swathes of pink, white and blue paint mixed together in brushstrokes. There is a green and blue section in the top right corner. The background is beige.

Liliane Tomasko, Portrait of a Psyche split in half (van Dongen), Psyche (tunnelling through forbidden areas), Portrait of a Psyche doubled up (Auerbach), 2025 © the artist

The Psyche of the Portrait saw New York-based visual artist Liliane Tomasko respond to examples of portraiture from Sheffield’s Visual Art collection with her own abstract vocabulary. Shedding light on the ever-changing human psyche, the exhibition presented new work by Tomasko directly responding to portraits by Frank Auerbach, Pierre Bonnard, Kees Van Dongen, and Eduardo Paolozzi.

An abiding interest in the subconscious runs as a thread through the work of Liliane Tomasko – whether interrogating the uncanny of the seeming emptiness of the corner of a room, to the rumpled sheets of a slept-in bed, her dynamic, sweeping brushstrokes converge to erase, transcend, interrogate, or reframe any recognisable origins. For The Psyche of the Portrait, Tomasko took a bold new direction, responding to four specific portraits she has chosen that are in, or on loan to, Sheffield’s collection.

What emerged in Tomasko’s new paintings, created especially for the exhibition, deftly drew parallels between the creation of those original works and the historical development of psychological study in the 20^th century. Together, they questioned the psychological power dynamics of artist and sitter, queried the role of the subconscious in the creative act, and reimagined parables in the context of our 21^st-century anxieties.

This exhibition has now closed

Millennium Gallery

Arundel Gate

Sheffield

S1 2PP

Donate £5 today – and see your donation doubled

This image is split in half vertically. The left half shows an abstracted figure with long blonde hair and what seems to be a patterned top, with red, white, yellow and brown sections. The background is white, brown and blue. The right half is more abstract, with swathes of pink, white and blue paint mixed together in brushstrokes. There is a green and blue section in the top right corner. The background is beige. There is a red and white triangle in the bottom right corner. — Liliane Tomasko, Portrait of a Psyche doubled up (Auerbach), 2025

© the artist

Donate today – and see your donation doubled!

A donation from you could supercharge children’s learning, help people unlock their creativity and see visitors embark on journeys of discovery that last a lifetime.

Donate today and your donation will be doubled – making twice the difference, at no extra cost to you!

Donate Today