The Golden Days 1945

Balthus created this oil on canvas painting, titled *The Golden Days*, using muted olive tones. Look how the figure reclines in the armchair, almost daring us to look; there's something unsettling in her gaze. But also, there's a tenderness in the way Balthus paints the light on her skin. And I wonder, what was he thinking as he made it, wrestling with the image? The paint is thinly applied, creating a dreamy, almost surreal atmosphere. The figure in the background tending the fire seems like a character from another world. It reminds me a little of the early Renaissance painters, like Piero della Francesca, who were also interested in stillness, and the weight of the human form. Painters are always talking to each other across time, riffing on each other’s ideas. We keep the conversation going, trying to make sense of the world through the messy, glorious act of painting.