At sea 1934

In Paul Delvaux’s painting, At Sea, a woman is lying down on the beach, gazing upward. I can imagine Delvaux’s process as he slowly created the image with oils, building up the layers of paint to create a rich surface that captures the texture of skin, sand, and water. His muted color palette evokes a sense of calm and reverie, like a memory or a dream. The waves are painted with such fine lines that they almost vibrate. The painting has this amazing luminous quality to it, like he has let light into the world. The paint has a quality of smoothness, almost like a watercolor, but it’s oil! Delvaux's work, particularly his nude figures, often draws from classical and surrealist influences, creating scenes that are both timeless and dreamlike. Painters often work this way, pulling in all sorts of influences from the past, using paint to have conversations across time.