Daydreaming 

Curator: Gabriel von Max’s “Daydreaming" is a luminous vision, painted in oil. There’s such a serene quality. Editor: Yes, ethereal even. She almost floats within that dark green space, framed by these pale roses. Immediately, I think of Botticelli's Venus, though much more subdued, less confident somehow. Curator: Subdued is a great word. Her gaze lifts upwards, caught in something just beyond our view. The romanticism here is so palpable. It is not as boisterous, rather contemplative. It evokes the romantic style. The soft edges create an idealized, almost otherworldly atmosphere. Editor: Indeed, and I wonder about the roses. Roses have been associated with Aphrodite and love from ancient times, a signifier of beauty, passion and fleeting time. However, the artist reframes that familiar symbolism with these specific pale pink blossoms, seemingly untouched, evoking a pure innocent tenderness instead. Curator: The lack of any explicit narrative thrusts the focus inward, doesn’t it? She seems suspended in her inner world, that interiority becoming the subject of the painting itself. You find yourself wondering what she is imagining. Editor: Exactly. I see traces of pre-Raphaelite yearning in her upturned face. It's as if she's looking towards a divine or higher purpose, but again, there's something tentative in her expression, a whisper of uncertainty that makes her relatable. Curator: That's a delicate way to put it. The entire piece dances between earthly beauty, seen with that romantic brush, and the kind of ineffable longings of the soul. So much from a young girl, framed by a humble bouquet. Editor: It does make you consider how consistent visual symbolism, and also slight alteration in that, can shift the meaning profoundly through time, especially for women's portraiture. It's something I will be meditating on for some time. Curator: Likewise, that ability of Max to marry technique and affect so subtly creates a work I want to return to, and will.