Gemini 1938

Victor Brauner made this painting in 1963, and the flat planes of color and heavy outlines give this image a graphic quality, almost like a page from a Surrealist comic book. I imagine Brauner applying the paint, layer upon layer, trying to get this strange figure just right. The surface feels smooth, almost waxy, each color carefully considered and placed. Look at those four eyes—two pink, two green—staring out at us. They are unsettling but also kind of mesmerizing. And what about that split, almost forked, tongue? Is it a sign of duality, like the Gemini twins? I wonder if Brauner was thinking about identity, about how we all have different sides to our personalities. Maybe he was exploring the darker aspects of the self, the parts we try to hide. It makes me think of other artists like Frida Kahlo who used painting to explore their own inner worlds. There’s a conversation happening across time. That’s what painting’s all about, right? A constant exchange, inspiring each other to keep pushing, keep questioning, keep seeing the world in new ways.