Victor Brauner was a Romanian-born artist and pivotal figure in the Surrealist movement. Growing up in a Jewish family in Romania, he studied chemistry and engineering before being drawn to the arts and relocating to Paris in 1930. There he joined the circle of André Breton and immersed himself in Surrealism. Brauner brought an innovative approach to painting by incorporating unorthodox materials like wax, plaster, wood, and fabric into his canvases. His early Surrealist works featured unsettling biomorphic forms inspired by microscopic imagery, combining aspects of the corporeal and mechanical. He pioneered the technique of décalcomanie, making imprints from gouache-painted objects onto canvas for fantastical compositions. During WWII, Brauner miraculously survived being shot in the face by a Nazi soldier, losing an eye but continuing to paint. His post-trauma imagery grew darker, obsessively depicting blindfolded figures and exploring psychic injury through haunting, mutated figures lacking stable forms. Seminal works like "Prelude to a Civilization" presaged his postwar "Thalamic Period" of evocatively abstracted anatomical fragments. Brauner drew inspiration from ancient cultures, mysticism, and myths in creating hybrid human-animal figures informed by hieroglyphs and primitive markings. His paintings grew increasingly textured and sculptural from his assemblages of unusual materials. Embracing chance effects, he pioneered a Surrealist approach to automatism that profoundly influenced the CoBrA group. With a darkly poetic yet psychologically penetrating style, Brauner probed the intersection of the psyche and the physical world. His visceral yet poignant body-based works investigating themes of violence, eroticism, and transformation solidified his legacy as an avant-garde visionary. Major exhibitions were held at the Guggenheim and Centre Pompidou.