Venus & Amor (240 x 200 cm)
Materials: Oil on canvas.
Symbolism: The eternal farewell. Love inextricable linked with suffering.
…And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed…
Genesis 2,3
The Painting:
In the diagonal from the upper left to right below, we descent from the Greek to the Romans and eventually to the modern western culture.
The woman quietly has gathered her things and waits until the taxi arrives. Contemplating about her life she stares through the window, looking at a new world of relentless recurrence.
The mythological figures, the luggage and the lonely figure form a triangle, the strongest architectural construction that we know of.
In the picture it symbolizes: gathering, solitude and farewell.
The painting in the painting:
Venus was the Roman alternative of the Greek love goddess Aphrodite. Different from her Roman opponent, she not only was the Goddess of erotic love but also of charity and universal love. Amor was the Roman alternative of the Greek love god Eros.
The Greek: Aphrodite plays an important role in the realization of the eternal love between Psyche (personification of the soul, imagined as female beauty) and Eros.
The Romans: Venus let’s play Amor an important role in the romance between Dido (founder of Cartage) and Aeneas (Trojan hero, tribe father of Rome). Dido commit eventually suicide out of despair concerning the behavior of Aeneas.
The dimensions of the frame of the picture in the picture reveal only a part of the painting of Venus & Amor. As only a part of love can be visible. Also, can be deduced that the dimensions of the whole picture have to be 123,6 x 2,00cm (b x h), of which random, 140×100 cm is represented.
The breadth – altitude proportion: 123,6: 200 is similar to the Phi ratio.