"Porcelain Doll in a Ballet Dream", Painting by Santini Poncini

Some artists immediately stand out for the singularity of their work. While very little is known about the 20th-century French painter Santini Poncini, his paintings are unmistakable for their strangely disconcerting, dreamlike quality. A signature of his style is the recurring appearance of cherub-faced children with doll-like features, often heavily made-up and unsettling in their androgyny. Much like Poncini himself, whose gender remains a mystery, these figures seem to defy categorization. In this work, a young child with doll-like features is depicted with large, expressive eyes and carefully coiffed jet-black hair adorned with flowers. Her cheeks are prominently highlighted in pink, while her lips, painted a bright red, introduce a striking contrast to her innocent appearance. Her porcelain complexion enhances an unreal, evanescent quality. This enigmatic figure conveys an indefinable emotion, eluding any attempt at precise description—a true feat and a hallmark of Poncini’s magi