Ranelagh blanc

This 1994 painting initiates a dialogue with the 16th arrondissement of Paris, where Ilana lived and worked. Here, the Jardin du Ranelagh is viewed through a lens of melancholy and stillness. A central stone statue, rendered in icy white and pale blue, leaps from the canvas against a backdrop of warming autumn foliage. The figure is curved in a posture of dramatic sorrow over a fallen lyre, anchoring the composition while the loose, expressive brushwork of the surrounding greens and golds suggests the gentle passing of time. Unlike the kinetic energy of her later Ranelagh works (like the locomotive of 2005), this piece frames the park as a place of contemplation, transforming a public landmark into a private meditation on the permanence of art versus the fleeting nature of the seasons.