Bob Dylan

BOB DYLAN (Duluth, Minnesota, 1941).
"View from two windows".2010.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Presents on the back label of the Halcyon Gallery, London.
Measurements: 61 x 51 cm; 70 x 60 cm (frame).

Original painting by Bob Dylan, valuable testimony of the musician's life on the road. "View from two windows" (2010) captures an intimate, everyday scene, characteristic of his pictorial production, which was prominently exhibited at the Halcyon Gallery in London. This work falls within the logic of his acclaimed "The Drawn Blank Series", a collection that transforms spontaneous sketches from his tours into vibrant and colorful paintings, revealing an artistic facet parallel to his legendary musical career.

The painting presents a fragmented composition, like a snapshot of one of the many hotel rooms Dylan inhabited during his travels. In the foreground, we see the functional and anonymous furnishings of a room: a television on a low cabinet, a coffee table and a chair in a striking green color. The scene is divided vertically by an orange curtain that, with its warm and bold tone, becomes a focal point of the composition. The glass window does not reveal the landscape outside, but is tinged with a fiery yellow hue. The perspective is direct, almost childlike in its simplicity, giving the work a palpable texture and a sense of immediacy.

To understand "View from two windows", it is essential to place it in the context of "The Drawn Blank Series". This series had its genesis in a collection of drawings Dylan made between 1989 and 1992 during his tours. According to the musician himself, drawing was a way to "relax and refocus a restless mind". These sketches, originally published in a book in 1994, were quick observations of his surroundings: landscapes, portraits, urban scenes and interiors.

Years later, in 2007, he was invited to exhibit these drawings, which motivated him to reinterpret them in color. The result was an explosion of creativity where the same basic drawing gave way to multiple variations in acrylic, watercolor or, as in this case, oil, exploring different color palettes and emotions. "View from two windows" is a perfect example of this process, where an everyday scene is elevated through color and composition.

The influence of Fauvism is evident in the use of intense and arbitrary, non-naturalistic colors, such as the green of the chair or the yellow of the glass. On the other hand, the simplicity in the drawing and the frankness of the representation connect the work with naïf art. There is a deliberate absence of academic virtuosity, which gives the painting an authenticity and direct charm.

Dylan's gaze is more that of a distant and melancholic observer, a chronicler of fleeting moments on the road, reflecting the nomadic nature of his life as a musician.