Baudelaire. Génie D'amour: Flamme 1941

Jacqueline Lamba, who was married to André Breton, made this lovely abstract piece "Baudelaire. Génie D'amour: Flamme" with colored pencils. The flat planes of color that Lamba uses here reminds me of my own process. When I paint I like to build up layers, playing with flat color on top of messy brush strokes. In this work the colors are laid on thick, with blocks of yellow, blue, and red stacked on top of each other. The effect is almost childlike, like a playing card made by a kid! But I think the simplicity of the composition also speaks to the artist's attempt to dig into the unconscious, and that makes it interesting. If you look at the middle of the work, there is a sort of fish-shaped form with small red lines along it. This detail gives a kind of organic sensibility to an otherwise geometric and flat composition. I am reminded of the paintings of Miro. Both artists have an interest in Surrealism, and in making abstract art that is playful, yet serious.