ETERNAL SADNESS

FINE ART PRINTS, 113 CM X 1113 CM, BEHINDGLAS, 2007-2009

Eternal Sadness – The Cracks in the Perfect Facade

In her series Eternal Sadness, Tina Winkhaus exposes the aesthetics of perfectionism—and the quiet unease lurking beneath it. At the heart of the work are mothers who push their daughters into the polished world of beauty pageants. Perfectly styled hair, dazzling dresses, rehearsed poses—yet behind the shimmering surface lies a silent melancholy.

Winkhaus’ images are not just a glimpse of the stage but a mirror of our society. They reveal how deeply ingrained norms and clichés shape the concept of femininity. Beauty is not celebrated as an expression of individuality but as discipline, as competition. The girls in these staged settings become projections of their mothers' expectations—and of a society that demands perfection while rendering authenticity secondary.

The series oscillates between fascination and critique. The aesthetics are seductive, yet the girls' gazes tell another story—one of lost childhood, self-image, and external control. Eternal Sadness asks: Where does playful ambition end and conditioning begin? And what happens when a smile becomes a mask?

Winkhaus plays with kitsch, with clichés, but also with the tragedy beneath them. The perfect facade begins to crack—and that is where art begins.