The famine selon Dali

Painted in 1988, this work marks a distinct psychological entry point into Ilana Baumgarten-Wajsblat’s archive, utilizing the vocabulary of Surrealism to articulate physical suffering. A sickly yellow backdrop creates a parched, unforgiving atmosphere, setting the stage for a nightmare that feels undeniably modern despite its art-historical references. In the center, a grotesque skeletal creature balances on impossibly thin, stilt-like legs—a direct visual citation of Salvador Dalí’s The Elephants. Unlike the whimsical silk works that would follow in the early 90s, the brushwork here is frantic and loose, contrasting the shadowed, elongated figure reaching upward in anguish with the violent explosion of red in the foreground. It is a raw, visceral interpretation of starvation that channels the anxieties of the late 20th century through the distorted lens of the subconscious.