The Image as a Felt Thing: Ambivalent Gestures in Motherhood and Painting

Key Points

• The aim is to explore the interplay between emotional gestures in motherhood and their representation in painting.
• Art analysis focusing on symbolic gestures in artworks
• Comparative examination of paintings depicting motherhood
• Interpretation of emotional responses elicited by visual elements
• Identified an array of ambivalent gestures in representations of motherhood
• Demonstrated that these gestures evoke complex emotional responses
• Highlighted the dual nature of expression in both art and parental experience