Interieur Jaune 1980

Curator: Carlos Nadal painted "Interieur Jaune" in 1980 using oil paint, giving us a peek into an intimate, private world. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: My first impression is the sheer tactile nature of this piece. You can almost feel the texture of the impasto as the brushstrokes bring to life the scene and how it almost overpowers the realism, or what I understand as realism, within the portrayed scene. Curator: Yes, Nadal is not merely representing a room, but also infusing the painting with memory, or rather nostalgia for the past, maybe the fin-de-siècle aesthetic, in a modern or rather postmodern moment of its making in 1980. What’s striking to me is the mirrored images, especially given its art historical connections; what do they convey? Editor: I see how you relate it with visual continuity, I'm more into analyzing how Nadal exploits, with each stroke, the medium of painting and not just illustrating, creating more room and a bigger challenge in itself. Notice how it challenges our perception. Each color, shape and angle calls to be interpreted and made again by us viewers. Curator: Well, the palette is dominated by a honeyed, mellow yellow, repeated in all tonalities and depths throughout the painting, in turn contributing to an overall harmony of sorts. Look how its effect contrasts with the more vivid and present mirror reflection and that dark open window on the right side of the image. These are, again, spaces of transit into unknown dimensions. Editor: The very means and possibilities to represent, not so much what he portrays but HOW he portrays a moment in time! He builds it layer upon layer. You see that he focuses not just on a visual result, it is deeper, something emotional and sensorial in how its texture gives space for introspection. Curator: Indeed. It's not just a picture, but a journey through art historical styles and psychological realms. Thank you for guiding us through such complex considerations about Nadal’s processes in "Interieur Jaune"! Editor: Thanks to you! Seeing an artwork in light of the method in which it was composed is definitely an enriching journey.