Born in 1903 in Romania, Victor Brauner was an active member of the first wave of Romanian avant-garde artists whose concerns anticipated those of Western European Surrealism by 20 years. As such, his paintings are distinguished by their wealth of occult notations and an eclectic use of diverse religious symbolism. Brauner's work attests to a unique integration of his Eastern European roots into more flamboyant Western modernism. Despite his many years living in Paris he retained his Romanian identity as evidenced in his choice of titles, his palette, and primarily his choice of imagery, reverting over and over again to his childhood memories and anxieties, to the Balkan landscape, and to the magic and spiritual symbols of his upbringing. This book demonstrates how Brauner's work differs from that of his famous Surrealist counterparts, de Chirico, Ernst, and Tanguy for example, extending our idea of Surrealism itself through his use of poetry, both direct and analogical, his highly narrative depictions of personal and social relations, and his extraordinarily colorful palette.
