‘Since 2010 I have painted self-portraits regularly on a similar scale. I title them according to the month and the year in which they are painted.

I was preparing to paint Ghost of a Girl with an Egg. Some of the memories that were stirred up, in my preparation, were painful. I felt both hurt and angry when I remembered my young self – the self from over 40 years ago. I need to keep a lid on my anger. Partly because the more contained an emotion is, the more powerful the impact can be. But also, because it wasn’t just anger that I felt. It was more complicated because I loved Lucian deeply. I think the mood in this self-portrait shifts between anger, hurt and love.’ – Celia Paul

About the artist

Celia Paul was born in 1959 in Trivandrum, India. She lives and works in London.

Major solo exhibitions include Celia Paul, curated by Hilton Als, at Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut (2018) touring to The Huntington, San Marino, California (2019), Desdemona for Celia by Hilton, Gallery Met, New York (2015–16); Gwen John and Celia Paul: Painters in Parallel, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2012–13); The Grave’s Art Gallery, Sheffield (2005) and Abbot Hall, Kendal (2004).

She has participated in group exhibitions including Works on Paper, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark (2019); All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life at Tate Britain (2018), La Diablesse, Tramps, London (2016); NO MAN’S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection, Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2015–2016); Forces in Nature curated by Hilton Als at Victoria Miro (2015); Recent acquisitions: Arcimboldo to Kitaj, British Museum, London (2013); Self-Consciousness, curated by Peter Doig and Hilton Als, VeneKlasen/Werner gallery, Berlin (2010); The School of London: Bacon to Bevan, Musée Maillol, Paris (1998) and British Figurative Painting of the 20th Century, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (1992).

Her work is in collections including Abbot Hall, Kendal; British Museum, London; Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Frissiras Museum, Athens; Herzog Ulrich Gallery, Brunswick, Germany; Metropolitan Museum, New York; Morgan Library and Museum, New York; National Portrait Gallery, London; New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge; Ruth Borchard Collection; Saatchi Collection, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Rubell Family Collection, Miami; and the Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut.

A solo exhibition of new works was recently held at Victoria Miro, Wharf Road, 6 April­–14 May 2022. The exhibition coincided with the publication of Letters to Gwen John, a new Jonathan Cape book by the artist which centres on a series of letters addressed to the painter Gwen John (1876–1939), who has long been a tutelary spirit for Paul.

Work by the artist currently features in Pictus Porrectus: Reconsidering the Full-Length Portrait, curated by Dodie Kazanjian and Alison Gingeras on view at Bell House, Newport, Rhode Island until 2 October 2022. Celia Paul will also be part of the group show curated by Hilton Als, Joan Didion: What She Means, on view at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA from 11 October 2022.