Barreras Melódicas 1948

Xul Solar made this painting called Barreras Melódicas, and, to me, it looks like the structures of a strange dream, made with watercolor. Imagine the hand of the artist moving with the brush over and over, building up the forms, little by little. I'm thinking about Solar, wanting to create a personal language, and what that means to arrive at such strange forms. I wonder what it felt like to stand before the blank page, mixing those muted, earthy tones—mauves and browns—and inventing this surreal landscape, with its ladders and tiny blue figures. There's a real desire in evidence here to order things and to translate a feeling into form. I love how the ladders lean against the hills, suggesting a way to move through this place. Painters are always in conversation, and I wonder if Solar knew the work of other artists who dreamed up their own worlds. Ultimately, painting is about embracing the unknown, the unexpected. And Solar's melodic barriers offer us space to imagine and dream, too.