Dream by Jacob Lawrence
The painting displays Lawrence's superlative knowledge of color, which is striking in its economy and elegant simplicity. The couple is rendered starkly in black, with white highlighting the man's clenched teeth, the slit of an eye, his shoulder, arm, fingernails, toenails, and ribs; his pajama pants are striped in slate blue against white, and his head is set against a red pillow. In the woman, the black-on-white effect that so starkly defines the man's anatomy is softened by the yellow of her dress, which in turn echoes the yellow, tan, and green of the background. Although the man and woman do not embrace, color and form lock them together, trapping them in a nightmare from which there is no escape.
