Ethel Coppieters draws inspiration for her pictorial work from the women around her and the close relationships she has with them. The portraits combine classic feminine references with contemporary narrative elements. Coppieters’s friends are her muses; monumental women linked and united by a vibrant synergy. Whether transient or victorious, dancing or running somewhere, they are isolated by the starkly coloured background, anchored in the here and now. Through these portraits of women with deconstructed body proportions, freed from the contemporary mandates of beauty, the artist recreates dreamlike scenes to speak about the intimate and the universal. The characters of Ethel Coppieters’ life are portrayed as glorious women, bearing witness to unfailing sisterhood and joy.