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Interior from Strandgade with Sunlight on the Floor<\/strong> Throughout the unit, I noticed a lot how Gertrude Bell had moments of seasonal depression as well as just regular depression. Specifically, in The Letters of Gertrude Bell Volume 1<\/em>, she exhibited a great amount of seasonal depression while working in Basrah. The transition from being satisfied with her work in December to experiencing physical hardship, illness, strain, and depression in January is reminiscent of this painting and how the woman in it seems sad and reserved. The light in the painting fills the room but it somehow does not warm it which is similar to how the cold feels. Furthermore, when Bell talks about her feeling “limited” by her gender, it feels like how the woman in the painting is alone, cornered, and also “limited” in the way by the artist. I also imagine that the girl in the painting is writing and persevering, similar to how Bell had a sort of quiet endurance despite the inner fatigue she kept feeling when she worked.<\/p>\n Beyond her seasonal depression, Bell deeply mourns the loss of her lover Henry Cadogan. After his death, all her writing is filtered through a lens of grief. If you do a side by side comparison of\u00a0The Letters of Gertrude Bell<\/em> with\u00a0Persian Pictures,\u00a0<\/em>you can see that her outlook of the beautiful regions she is visiting is much more grim. Like, in Persian Pictures<\/em>, she says “Sunshine \u2013 sunshine! tedious, changeless, monotonous! Not that discreet English sunshine which varies its charm with clouds… here the sun has <\/span>long ceased trying to please so venerable a world.” Bell is starting to hate the weather and environment she is in. Although she expresses similar distaste for the weather in the Letters of Gertrude Bell<\/em>, it is not all encompassing. Just like the woman in the painting, Bell feels colder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interior from Strandgade with Sunlight on the Floor By Vilhelm Hammershoi Throughout the unit, I noticed a lot how Gertrude Bell had moments of seasonal depression as well as just regular depression. Specifically, in The Letters of Gertrude Bell Volume 1, she exhibited a great amount of seasonal depression while working in Basrah. The transition … <\/p>\n
\nBy Vilhelm Hammershoi<\/p>\n