The Awakening of Psyche 1904

Guillaume Seignac, sometime around the turn of the last century, painted the mythological Psyche, probably with oil paint. What's interesting to me is the way the image is built, layer upon layer, in gentle glazes. It's like he’s conjuring a dream. The paint handling is so smooth, it almost disappears. But look closer, and you'll see those tiny, barely-there brushstrokes that create the soft shadows around her limbs. See the cool blues and greens he uses to hint at the translucent quality of her skin? It’s this build-up, this slow, meticulous process, that gives the painting its ethereal glow. Seignac has a real eye for detail, and the way he evokes Psyche’s transformation, her emergence into consciousness, is magical. Think of how this connects to other paintings of nymphs and goddesses. It's all one big conversation, right? And it’s a conversation that's open to interpretation, just like Psyche’s enigmatic smile.