Inferno I 1967

Sidney Nolan's "Inferno I" seems to erupt from a place where the raw and the refined collide, all put down with what looks like lithographic crayon and ink. The figures are built from simple marks, and the color palette is a fiery mix of red, blue, and browns. It's like Nolan's wrestling with the age old question of how to capture something as chaotic and visceral as hell with just a few colors and gestures. Looking closer, you can see how the texture and surface play a big role, particularly the marks on the figure's torso. These splashes of red and blue feel like little bursts of energy, adding to the emotional intensity and conceptual depth. You're not quite sure if they are wounds, or some kind of symbolic mark. It reminds me of Francis Bacon, especially how both artists use the figure to explore the darker sides of the human psyche. But where Bacon goes for sheer horror, Nolan hints at something more ambiguous, leaving space for us to bring our own fears and fantasies to the party.