Les tours de lumière 1936

Wolfgang Paalen made this painting, "Les tours de lumière," using oils, and look at the range of textures he coaxes from them. The way he lays the paint down, so thick in parts and almost scrubbed in others, it feels like a conversation. I think it's a back and forth between control and letting go. The colors, this muted, almost underwater palette, create a dreamlike atmosphere, but there's also something unsettling about it. Notice the forms in the foreground, these almost spoon-like shapes. They feel familiar, like objects you might find around the house, but they're also alien, and placed within a very desolate landscape. For me, art is a way to explore the world, but it's also about questioning what we think we know. Like a conversation, or even a game, art invites us to see things from different perspectives, to embrace ambiguity, and find beauty in the unexpected. Think of his contemporary Yves Tanguy, both playing in similar dreamscapes.