Soul of the Underground 1959

Jean Dubuffet made this subterranean vision, Soul of the Underground, with a restricted palette of browns, beiges, and grays. I can imagine Dubuffet working on this, adding layer upon layer, building up a crusty, almost geological surface. He must have stood back, squinting, deciding where to add a touch more texture, a shadow, another scab of paint. You can see him there, trowelling on the paint! It's thick and clotted, like earth itself. This wasn't just about depicting something, it was about conjuring it, about the physicality of the earth, it’s stickiness and density. The overall effect is deeply textural, and in places, translucent. The colours glow like a mineral seam. What I love about painting, and what Dubuffet reminds us, is how it allows us to dig into our own world. I always feel that artists are in a constant conversation, inspiring each other across time. Painting is a place of questions, where ambiguity is not a problem, but an invitation.