Star Hunting

Author: Sofía Bassi

Title: Cazando estrellas (Star Hunting)

Date: 1967

Material: Oil on masonite

Dimensions: 46.5 × 34.5 inches

Location: Private collection

Rights: Sofía Bassi Foundation

Star Hunting depicts a solitary figure suspended between barren earth and a sky dense with stars. Draped in flowing garments, the female form stretches upward, her gesture fixed on a single, radiant point. Her elongated silhouette and slowed movement evoke not transcendence, but tension: the space between aspiration and distance, matter and light.

Bassi constructs this scene through stark contrasts. The arid, cratered terrain, evocative of a lunar surface, anchors the lower half of the painting, while the celestial expanse above suggests an open field of potential or desire. The figure’s body is marked with an alchemical egg, reinforcing the notion of spiritual rebirth and cosmic travel. In Star Hunting the image of longing is inscribed in the language of surreal symbolism, where the act of reaching becomes a form of inner transformation and revelation.