Le lien secret 1964

Victor Brauner made this painting called 'Le lien secret' and it’s a crazy stack of figures and faces! It’s all done in these flat planes of color—red, ochre, brown—that seem to float against the dark background. I can imagine Brauner working on this, pushing the paint around, trying to get these weird shapes to balance just right, like a totem pole. Look at the way he’s used that muted red for the face at the bottom; it’s such a strong color, but it doesn’t overpower the rest of the painting. And those eyes, peering out from each of the figures, give the painting this eerie, watchful quality. It reminds me of Léger, but with a twist of something darker, more surreal, you know? Painting, for Brauner, wasn’t just about making something pretty, but about tapping into some deeper, stranger part of the mind. Artists like Brauner remind me that painting is this ongoing conversation across time, where we’re all just riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world.