They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Surrealism was born during the lunch break between the wars, a century ago. What had become of the precious Earth, of life. Nothing made sense anymore. The bombing catastrophes of crushed homes and disfigured people. Normal life was a nightmare and people couldn’t talk openly anymore, so surrealism became a language also; a visual code.

In 2009 the NGV hosted the Dali exhibition ‘Liquid Desire’ and the most haunting and disturbing painting was Mountain Lake (1938). The painting captured the helplessness of what was coming.

The backstory was that the communications between Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister; and Adolf Hitler were cut, leading into the horrific 2nd War. Dali’s works are full of crutches, just as Melbourne artist John Brack’s shop windows, are of artificial limbs, for the war veterans that came home.

The war broke out in 1914, but before the turn of the Century the Pre-Rapaelites were encouraging people to return to nature.

What will the artists say now. Apartments have become prison cells. We need to think in our isolation, where Australia will be in the future. Not just for us, but for all of us.