Romaine Brooks: Her Sophisticated and Severe Portraits

Romaine Brooks, the daughter of a wealthy, unbalanced woman estranged from her husband before Romaine’s birth, had a miserable and unstable childhood. An insane older brother received mother’s love and attention, leaving Romaine scarred from lack of affection and acceptance. Inheritance of the huge family fortune in 1902 granted her independence, but she remained enslaved by memories of her mother’s cruelty. She studied in Rome, meeting an avant-garde group of artists, writers, and intellectuals with whom s