Animaux claniques hominisés 1961

Victor Brauner painted Animaux claniques hominisés with oil on canvas. What gets me about this painting is how the animals stack up, like a totem pole of the subconscious. Each creature is carefully rendered, with its own pattern. A pale horse marked with subtle spots, a blue fish dotted with tiny circles, and a bird feathered with lines. It's like Brauner is building a whole new world from simple shapes and colors. The texture is fascinating, too. You can almost feel the brushstrokes, thick in some places, thin in others. It's not just about what he's painting, but how he's painting it. Look at the red slashes near the bottom of the canvas – are they flames? Or just a decorative flourish? That kind of ambiguity really appeals to me. It feels a bit like Picabia in that it is both representational and flat at the same time. Brauner’s painting feels like a conversation between different styles and ideas. It's an invitation to embrace the unexpected and find beauty in the messy, imperfect world of art.