In the 1970s, Henry Orlik was on the way up. He’d exhibited his work in London, at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and sold out a one-man show at a gallery nearby. The reviews were great, too, with one critic describing him as “technically brilliant.” But Orlik soon got fed up with art dealers and the art world, which he saw as corrupt. He stopped showing his work, hid out in a council flat, and was forgotten. Still, he kept painting in a surrealist style that is like no one else’s: forms seem to be evolving before our eyes while colors, a palette of pastels, appear to be dissolving like sugar. Now 77, Orlik is presenting his paintings to the public for the first time in 50 years. Grant Ford, a picture expert for the BBC, told The Guardian they are “mind-bogglingly good.” —Elena Clavarino