The Awakening of the forest 1939

Paul Delvaux made “The Awakening of the Forest” with oil on canvas. I wonder what he was thinking when he painted it? The painting has a dreamlike quality. The palette is muted and earthy, all greens and browns, which enhances the mystery of the scene. Delvaux's meticulous approach to the surface, with its smooth and almost porcelain-like finish, gives the painting a hyperreal quality. But it doesn’t represent reality. Look at the figure on the left. The man in the black suit. He’s the only one. The careful rendering of his face, the way he holds his hand to his temple. What’s he thinking? And the line of figures in the background, receding into the forest like ghosts. Delvaux was clearly in dialogue with the Old Masters, tipping his hat to their study of the human form and the ways they constructed pictorial space. But he’s also pushing back, creating a world that is deeply personal and utterly strange. That's what painting is, an ongoing conversation.