Magnetic Storms

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: Weinstein Gallery San Francisco (the USA).

This is one of the artist’s darkest and most sinister works, describing the depression and oppressed state of the human soul. Pointed blurry figures move in a frantic rhythm, dancing the insane “dance of death”, which draws all life around into its whirlpool. Among the swirling piles of various elements and forms, one can see the female and male figures enveloped in this frantic movement. In this painting, Paalen used his favourite method of fumage, creating fantastic effects of a ghostly haze with the help of a candle. In terms of its emotional intensity, the canvas can be called one of the most powerful and expressive in the creative legacy of the author.