Deux vieux avec des barbes, l’une jaune, l’autre brune 1966

Salvador Dalí made this watercolor called Deux vieux avec des barbes, l’une jaune, l’autre brune, and it's like a fever dream, isn't it? I can just imagine Dalí, hunched over this piece, coaxing these figures out of watery pigment. Look at the way the colors bleed and blend. That golden yellow, the blues and browns; these tones fight and harmonize all at once. Did he start with the beards? Those white, spindly forms seem to anchor everything. It's fascinating how a simple brushstroke can conjure a whole world of emotion, right? I see a conversation here, or maybe a silent standoff. They remind me of other paintings of old men, like something by Rembrandt, only turned inside out and made surreal. Artists, we’re all just riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world one brushstroke at a time.