The City I Dream 1937

Victor Brauner made this painting, "The City I Dream," and it's all about making a world, you know, from scratch, with paint. The palette is a mix of these sun-baked yellows and blues, that feel both familiar and totally strange. Up close, the surfaces are smooth, but the forms themselves are bizarre. I love the way the buildings have become a giant foot. It's like the city itself is walking, alive and slightly absurd. And then there's the figure in the foreground, conducting this whole dream. There's a painter named de Chirico, who might have been on Brauner's mind, I am thinking of his cityscapes where time seems to stand still. In the end, it’s this mix of stillness and motion, the dream-like quality, that makes the painting so intriguing. It reminds you that art isn't just about what you see, but how it makes you feel, and what it makes you imagine.