Desert Landscape 1944 - 1945

Salvador Dalí made this black and white landscape, a space where things emerge from a dream. The image hovers between representation and abstraction. I can imagine Dalí in his studio, perhaps under the Spanish sun, trying to capture the elusive world of dreams. How does one paint the insubstantial? Look closely at the surface. See how the paint is thin, almost translucent, like a memory fading at the edges. Notice the figure in the distance, a ghostly form reminiscent of smoke and mirrors, of things not really there. That figure to me is Dalí, the artist himself, wandering alone on a desolate shore, seeking inspiration in the most unlikely of places. It’s interesting how artists like Dalí, and even de Chirico before him, have constructed surrealist spaces that beckon the viewer into unexpected mental landscapes. Ultimately, artists are in an ongoing conversation. They riff on each other’s ideas and dreams across time, inspiring our creativity and understanding of the world.