Le couronnement du peintre 1991

Nicolae Maniu made this painting, Le couronnement du peintre, with oil on canvas. He's using a muted palette, and really smooth brushwork, but the image itself is so wonderfully strange that it feels very process-oriented. I find myself drawn to the way the figure emerges from the canvas, it's not quite surrealism, but it plays with reality in a similar way. Look at the precision with which the hands are rendered, and the contrasting way in which the canvas is torn, it feels like a very deliberate decision. It makes me think of other artists who’ve explored the theme of the artist's identity through the motif of the artist working in their studio, like Courbet. Ultimately, this piece is about embracing the odd, unexpected turns that art can take, and accepting that there may not always be a clear, definitive meaning.