When Alix Needham realised her artist husband James had never depicted them both in the same painting, he soon set out to change that — and the result is an incredible work of art that has gone viral after Alix shared it on Imgur.
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The painting shows Alix half naked and brushing her teeth in the bathroom while her husband sits on the toilet beside her. It’s incredibly raw, and many of the 1 million people who have shared it on social media have commented that it is the perfect depiction of modern married life.
I ask my husband if he realises he has never actually painted us both in the same painting…
“If you’ve seen my website or social media, you’ll see that I’ve drawn and painted Alix hundreds of times over the years and also painted myself many times,” James says. “She mentioned that we’d never actually been in a painting together, and with our sixth wedding anniversary approaching, I felt it was time to paint some kind of grand ode to love. So after considering all the overly romantic, idealised visions of love depicted throughout history, I decided to create an image closer to the reality of a modern relationship.”
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He’s definitely done that. What sums up the reality of a relationship more than those basic, everyday interactions between a couple? The relationship shown in this painting is so much truer than loved-up selfies posted on Instagram and gushing Facebook posts about other halves.
We love that the artist has portrayed himself in such a vulnerable situation while his wife stands tall — the opposite of how men are so often depicted as the hero in traditional paintings. But this painting could equally portray two women, two men or parents with a couple of kids running amok in the bathroom. For many households, it wouldn’t even be unusual to have the family pet lurking somewhere — something like this perhaps:
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See more of James Needham’s art.
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