Lost Treasure 1961

Victor Prezio made this painting of divers discovering a lost treasure, but I can't tell you exactly when or with what medium! What I see is the artist imagining what it might be like to be underwater, with a certain way of moving that's all its own, sort of floating. The divers are searching for something, but it's not clear what. I mean they clearly found something. Gold! But does this constitute a treasure? And does it even matter what they find? Maybe the real treasure is being underwater in the first place. The surface of the canvas isn’t overworked, but kind of left alone, which lends it a feeling of calm. I can sense a conversation between Prezio’s way of seeing and other painters who take this as their subject. I’m thinking of surrealists like Dorothea Tanning, and Yves Tanguy. In the end, painting is a collaborative enterprise across the ages.