Trying to Get Home

The painter Rafael Mahdavi gives us here an illuminating account of how "Las Meninas" by Velazquez, "Guernica" by Picasso, "The Third Of May" by Goya, and "The Nighthawks" by Hopper inspired him to paint his own take on these four works. Both the source paintings and the painter's variations on them are reproduced here. The four source works are reproduced in order to give the reader free rein to her or his imagination and interpretation--as to other possible colors and meanings. Rafael Mahdavi's four large paintings are also shown here in color and convey a technical mastery and a deep understanding of his subject matter. What emerges in Mahdavi's essay and in his four paintings is a powerful and poetic meditation on how these masters' four works have been a persistent presence in his life so far.