Window, Cour de Rohan 1951

Balthus made this painting, 'Window, Cour de Rohan', with oil on canvas. There's a stillness to this piece, a quietude achieved through a muted palette and careful layering. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving slowly, deliberately, across the canvas, building up these soft, hazy forms. Look at the way the light filters through the window, washing the scene in a gentle, diffused glow. The artist uses thin layers of paint, almost transparent, to create a sense of depth and atmosphere, like a memory fading into the present. My eye is drawn to the way Balthus captured the light on the windowsill, and how it illuminates the objects placed upon it. The muted tones create a dream-like state, the objects seemingly holding their breath. It reminds me a little of Morandi, in that it finds the extraordinary within the ordinary. I think art, like memory, is never fixed, it shifts and changes with our perception.