The mermaid’s dream is inspired by Borges’s idea of circular time and duality, man as dream and dreamer. It recreates the mystery and magic I experienced at a beach party in 1974, celebrating Portugal’s revolution. Sometimes an event happens that defies everything we know. Over time we even doubt our memory. But it haunts us. I painted the girl as I remember her, sleeping by the sea in the silvery night. But then she disappeared – into the waves? Did I dream the girl dreaming she is a mermaid? Or is the mermaid dreaming she is the girl at the beach party who later makes an artist book? Meanwhile, the mermaid vanishes down her own illuminated blue path into another dream. — artists' website