Memory of Essaouira (2023) Original Oil Painting by Federico Cortese

"Memory of Essaouira" is a vibrant and surreal painting that captures the essence of a remembered place, inspired by the Moroccan coastal city of Essaouira.
The structure depicted in the painting evokes historical and Moorish architectural styles, with its repeating arches, towers, and domes. The stonework appears striped and patchworked, as if built from layers of memory rather than bricks. The style is reminiscent of optical illusion art, where perspective and geometry are intentionally distorted to feel dreamlike and fluid.
Flowing waves dominate both the sky and the ground, suggesting either wind, water, or even the abstract flow of time and memory. These undulating lines penetrate through the architectural structure, blending it into its surroundings and dissolving the boundaries between the built and natural world.
This surreal interplay between solidity and fluidity implies a recollection rather than a literal representation, a vision of Essaouira as it might appear through the filter of nostalgia, where elements blend, exaggerate, and morph according to emotional resonance rather than physical accuracy.

Materials used:

oil on thick paper

Details:

• Oil painting on Paper
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 29 x 47 x 0.1cm (unframed)
• Signed on the front
• Style: Typographic
• Subject: Architecture and cityscapes