Sleeping prophet 2000

In Odd Nerdrum's Sleeping Prophet, we see a figure asleep as if in a dream, painted with oils in a style that feels ancient. I can imagine Nerdrum in his studio, building up the surface with layers of paint. See how the light glances off the skin of the sleeping figure? The paint is applied thinly in some areas, allowing the texture of the canvas to peek through, and thickly in others, creating a tactile surface that begs to be touched. He creates this world with such an intimate and immediate focus, it feels like he might be looking at an older painting. Like he's dreaming it into being. It makes me think about how we're all influenced by the artists who came before us. Nerdrum's obvious love for the old masters, the way he translates their techniques, but with his own contemporary twist. And how the same ideas circle back again and again, remade each time by the artist's touch, and how one person's painting affects the next person's, and on and on...