Totem of Blessed Subjectivity II 1948

Victor Brauner made "Totem of Blessed Subjectivity II" using oil paint, probably sometime in the mid-20th century. I can almost feel Brauner shifting things around on the canvas, responding to some inner logic, trying to corral these strange, biomorphic shapes into a kind of harmony. There's that muted, slightly unsettling palette – fleshy pinks, sickly greens, ghostly greys – that he’s carefully chosen. I can imagine him mixing these colors, adding a touch of this, a dab of that, until they're just right, until they create this specific mood. And those eyes, each figure has a single watchful eye, staring right through you. Think about all those surrealist artists, like Ernst and Tanguy, they were all playing with automatism, trying to tap into the unconscious, but Brauner brings his own flavor, a kind of raw, almost folkloric sensibility. You can feel him trying to capture something fundamental about human experience, the weirdness, the beauty, the terror of being alive.