Sara Star’s Study for the Crowning

Sara Star's Study for the Crowning

Study for The Crowning (Copyright 2004, Sara Star. All Rights Reserved).

This painting is one of the best representations of a birth crowning that I’ve been able to find online. The subject births her baby on her own, reaching down to feel her baby’s head as it crowns from her. The woman’s face is relaxed, and with eyes closed, her lips part as she breathes deeply during the birthing process. Artist Sara Star has painted the woman’s form in warm, fleshy tones, a thick mane of dark hair flowing behind the woman’s back. The golden hues of the background color add to the warmth of the image. The image is calming, reminding the viewer that the moment at which a baby crowns can be one of relaxed opening.

Sara Star is a neo-romantic artist, currently working in Vancouver, Washington. Her paintings touch on themes of the sacred, the occult, perception, and the body. Feminist images are important to her work.  In researching material prior to her creation of “Study for the Crowning,” Star examined a variety of art images connected to the theme of birth.