Magic Mirror (Le miroir magique) 1927

Jean Hugo made this enigmatic image of a magic mirror – or *Le miroir magique* – with paint. It’s so smooth, so graphic, and cool in its palette, it almost feels printed. It feels like a place you’d like to visit, doesn’t it? I love how, at first glance, the colours seem harmonious, a gentle harmony, and then you begin to notice the odd juxtapositions, that something is amiss. The almost icy blue behind the figures, the sandy yellow in the foreground, but then the dark, chocolate brown and almost neon green. Look at the details in the foreground, the lizard, the scrubby vegetation. And then the figures, so serene, classical almost, but out of step with the rest of the composition. Like something from a dream. This contrast reminds me of some of the work of Giorgio de Chirico, particularly in the way it creates a sense of displacement. It's a bit like the Surrealists, but not quite, not so theatrical, there is a rawness, a simplicity. Art is never just one thing, it is always in conversation, a back and forth, a kind of mirror.