Pâtisseries c. 1929

Léonor Fini made this painting of pastries, maybe in the middle of the 20th Century, using oils. What strikes me is the smooth, almost airbrushed quality of the painting, so that these simple sweets take on the appearance of surreal objects. The surface has a certain sheen, as if it’s varnished, and this throws a glossy light onto everything. You can see this in the reflections that each of the cakes casts onto the surface below. I love the way that Fini uses color, in particular the pastel pinks, greens and yellows, to create a slightly acidic tension against the predominantly brown, umber and ochre background tones. This makes the cakes feel quite lurid, almost toxic. Look at the pastry in the center of the painting that’s shaped like a crescent moon, the way that Fini’s given it just the slightest amount of texture, really makes the piece. There is a stillness to it which reminds me of the uncanny surrealism of Giorgio de Chirico, the sense of something very ordinary rendered strange and disquieting.