Afternoon Mass 1937

Paul Delvaux's "Afternoon Mass" is a painting that could have been made anytime, anywhere; it exists in its own reality. The classical figures in the painting are rendered with careful shading that almost looks like a painting exercise, but then they are put into a very dreamy landscape. It has a flattened perspective that makes me think of early Renaissance paintings. There is a man, a woman looking in a mirror, and some ruined architecture. What are these people doing in this place? The woman is looking at herself in the mirror. Is she admiring herself? Is she questioning her identity? It all feels very symbolic. I sympathize with Delvaux, wondering what he was thinking when he made it. I imagine him trying to reconcile his academic training with his surrealist impulses. I think all painters are inspired by other painters; it is an ongoing conversation across time. Painting is a form of embodied expression. The meaning and purpose of a painting is not fixed, and can be interpreted in multiple ways.