Landscape with Nests

Compared with other Surrealist, František Janoušek stood on a ground that was very much his own in terms of his oeuvre’s greater expressiveness, dramatic impact and tragic message. That was also why in his own time, his output met with less than warm reception. In his painting, both the human figure and the landscape were trasnformed into an unsettling commotion of intertwined colour shapes existing in an indefinite space which was often suggested by low horizon and homogeneous abstract background. Characteristically, this picture features contorted, coiling shapes of nests which do not induce the idea of safety associated with home or shelter, but rather create the impression of some ghostly phantoms coming from another world.