Allégorie; Brave Cécile 1967

This is Salvador Dali's "Allegorie; Brave Cecile," made sometime in the mid-20th century. He's got this nude figure emerging from what looks like a blue cloud, with a wash of yellow and green around her. I wonder what Dali was thinking, making this? The blue background is so flat, like a stage. And the figure, she's got this hand-drawn quality, like a fashion sketch. The lines of her hair are so precise, almost architectural. It’s weirdly moving. I can’t help but see this next to other paintings of women—like those dreamlike portraits of women by Picasso, or the surreal figures of Remedios Varo. There’s a conversation happening here, across time and space. We’re always inspired by each other, pinching ideas and making them our own. That's the fun of painting, you know? It's never really finished.