Persephone 1991

Boris Vallejo's 'Persephone' is a dreamy tableau of classical myth, rendered with a kind of airbrushed fantasy sheen. I wonder how this image came into being. What was the artist thinking as he layered those luminous glazes? There’s something about the sheen of Persephone's golden drapery that catches my eye. The paint seems almost liquid, giving it a hyper-real, otherworldly quality. And the way the figures seem to emerge from the misty background – it's as if they're caught between worlds. The light creates this interesting double: the woman is both here, offering a flower, and simultaneously there, in the hazy distance. I love how Vallejo takes this ancient myth and gives it such a contemporary, almost sci-fi twist. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and genres, pulling ideas and images from the past and reimagining them for the present. There's a playful ambiguity in this work that allows for so many readings. It's not just a retelling of a myth; it's an invitation to imagine, to question, and to connect with the story in a deeply personal way.