La Forêt 1947

Jacqueline Lamba painted this work, titled La Forêt, with oil on canvas, and you can really see her process at work. The color palette is pretty limited, mostly earth tones, but the way she layers them creates a sense of depth and texture. Looking closely, you can see how Lamba built up the surface with thin, almost translucent layers of paint. The brushstrokes are visible, creating a sense of movement and energy. It's like she's inviting us to witness the act of painting itself, to see the forest not as a static image, but as a living, breathing thing. There's a star in the bottom left, which is rendered in great detail, this is contrasted by broad strokes everywhere else, giving the star a sense of perspective. Lamba was married to André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, and her work shares that movement's interest in the subconscious and the dreamlike, I am reminded of Dorothea Tanning. But she also had her own unique vision, a way of seeing the world that was both grounded in reality and open to the possibilities of the imagination.