Primevera 1926

This is René Magritte's ‘Primavera’, maybe from the 1920s, made with gouache or tempera on paper. I’m trying to imagine being Magritte, setting up the shot—or rather, inventing this bizarre scene. The green of the watermelon dress is really something. Then there’s this woman, looking out, through heavy-lidded eyes. She's in a checked-floor room, somewhere between a stage set and a dream. Magritte loved to play with the familiar, turn it on its head. Look at how the artist uses these flat colors to create a sense of depth, and how the different textures—the smooth dress, the fabric, the woman's skin—add to the strange, dreamy quality of the piece. I can imagine Magritte thinking about Picasso and Picabia while making this, asking himself how to do it differently. Artists are always in conversation, you know, riffing off each other, creating something new.