Austrian-based artist and illustrator Alice Wellinger finds inspiration in the “troubles of daily life and childhood memories.” To depict these confusing, conflicting, or just plain annoying thoughts and situations, she illustrates them as surreal paintings. The double-exposure effect is common in her work—a portrait of a person, for instance, is fused with faraway landscapes or fractured and split into pieces.

Wellinger offers relatively little about each of her paintings, but she shares this quote by Karl Valentin: “Kunst ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit.” Translated, it says, “Art is beautiful, but it does a lot of work,” and it is a succinct way of viewing Wellinger’s images. Aesthetically they’re pleasing, and the compelling image leaves a lot to the imagination.

Images © Alice Wellinger