Paul Delvaux (1897-1994), born in Belgium, was influenced by the Flemish Expressionists before becoming one of the leading figures in Surrealism. In fact this master of modern art was probably closer to what we would now call “Magic Realism”. He offers us a series of obsessional scenes of brooding mystery: remote, erotic female nudes with pale milky skin and enigmatic eyes; dream-landscapes, often moonlit, where rampant vegetation appears against bare cityscapes painted with an almost photographic precision.

The two demure little girls in his drawing for the label of Mouton Rothschild 1985, separate and apart, are drawn together by the lure of a bunch of grapes, gazed on, touched, soon to be tasted.