Magic realist painting & Variations on my dress 4:blue symphony

Today I went, through the extreme cold (shiver shiver), to a museum to see a painting I have to give a small presentation about in two weeks. It is a picture of a woman in electric blue painted by Carel Willink in 1932. The painting is in a style called magic realism (more or less related to surrealism). The somewhat uncanny atmosphere in this painting is like the world in a dream, the elements are real (since you've seen them during the day) but they are deformed.

To me the sky is like thunder and lightning are about to start,like silence before a storm, this kind of sky is in many of this painters pictures.
The exact building in the backgrount actually exists,it stands near the painters studio in Amsterdam. The woman (Wilma) was to mary the painter in 1933 and she's in many pictures.

Now since this blog is essentially about clothing and dresses especially: the electric blue dress.....
I can't stop wondering wether this dress was actually that blue. The style was probably copied correctly. There's another portrait where Wilma is wearing a checkered jacked. there's also a photo of her posing in that same jacket.




The dress is pictured with enourmous^eye for detail, even the ending of the (blind) hem is visible. But I just can't help but wonder if someone in Holland would dare to wear a color like that. Futhermore there's also a painting of Wilma in a black dress of a very similar style (couldn't find a pic).

Anyway loooove the blue dress, very fashionable for that time. I was totally inspired and therefore the forth variation on my dress is a blue (although not an electric blue) color symphony, with some surrealist sculputral elements invading the image :P. My gaze is not as icy as Wilma's (really she suited today's sub-zero temperatures just fine).



The blue dress is paired up with a blue cardigan with puffy sleeves, blue dotted stockings and a blue beret with blue dotted veil.





Just one last 30's picture, from 1934. This time Willink pictured himself with Wilma (now his wife). The surrealist influences are more visible in this picture. It reminds me of a Magritte painting where the artist painted an artist painting a nude in the air. In this picture almost looks like the painter just painted his wife, not as literally as in the Magritte though.