Fleurs De Soir Truck - Toloas 1941

Paul Jacoulet made this print, "Fleurs De Soir Truck - Toloas," and it's like stepping into a dream. Look at the flat planes of color, how they build up the image – like a collage, but with ink. The woman's dress is so delicately patterned with tiny flowers, like a field in miniature, against the deep blue night sky, it's like she is dissolving into the background. Then you notice the spider web. There's a tension between flatness and depth, between the solid figure and the dissolving details. It reminds me of some of those early Matisse paintings, where the patterns seem to float on the surface. Jacoulet really knew how to play with our perception, making us question what's real and what's imagined, one print, one layer at a time.