Reconstruction de l'Être aime 1959

Curator: Victor Brauner's 1959 mixed-media piece, "Reconstruction de l'être aime", is what we're looking at here. Editor: It’s startling. The textures are so rough, the palette muted, save for that single slash of vibrant red. Gives a definite primitive vibe, but intentionally so. I am curious about his materials. Curator: Absolutely. He masterfully mixes paint with other media on the surface; it feels intuitive but carefully considered. In terms of its symbology, it is layered and potent: you can see Brauner often used eyes to depict insight, knowledge, and maybe also the sense of being observed or watched. In the background, small characters repeat, recalling different ancestral images of what an “archetype” could represent. Editor: These symbolic figures remind me a lot about ethnographic artifacts... Do we know if Brauner was familiar with tribal objects or sacred art? And about this peculiar palette—all those washed-out grays... How does it help enhance meaning? Curator: Indeed! He did immerse himself in indigenous art. Those pale grays? Perhaps evoking a sort of faded memory or even the feeling of being haunted. The contrast emphasizes the rawness and primal quality Brauner aimed for. What kind of reconstruction do you see here, through this use of visual memory? Editor: Maybe reconstruction isn't about flawlessly reassembling something, but about understanding the fractured nature of identity or, well, love as construction through deconstruction. And seeing the raw materials of that process, almost unformed. That one small splash of bold color may refer to some act of love and loss, no? Curator: Exactly! The lone red line could represent many things: a wound, or a vital life-force or desire for a different life. What you noted makes us realize he is talking not just about materials here. It seems Brauner is building, brick by brick, so to speak, the figure and the meaning of loving as human labor. Editor: It’s as if he’s revealing, rather than creating something polished. Love as artifice, built through materials—both physical and emotional. Makes one think about the active labor that goes into shaping and defining the concept. Thank you. Curator: I see the reconstruction reflecting as memory but also of future possibilities. Always something beyond us when it comes to visual work.