Plurentes 1949

Xul Solar made this painting, Plurentes, and its soft watercolors create a dreamy, otherworldly atmosphere. It’s like he's inviting us into a space where the rules of reality are bent, and perception is wonderfully strange. Check out the faces. Each is a stack of eyes and mouths, giving a sense of multiple perspectives. The vertical grain of the painting reminds me of wood, or maybe even the rings of a tree. The color palette is gentle and earthy, with a few pops of blue in the eyes that draw you in. There's one face at the bottom with furrowed brows; it's like a concentrated dose of human emotion amidst all this calm. Solar’s work has this unique blend of the mystical and the architectural, reminding me a bit of Hilma af Klint's spiritual diagrams. It’s as though he’s mapping out an alternate dimension or an inner landscape. It’s more of an open-ended question than a statement.