Three Works – Three Stories
In a short series of presentations, I will present three of my large-format paintings. The first shows a key scene from one of the oldest and most famous love dramas:
Cupid and Psyche
Why this topic?
Love, Doubt, Envy and Almost a Murder
No Hollywood director could have written this story more excitingly; we all know it or have at least heard of it: Cupid and Psyche.
Did you know that this story is a story within a story? Apuleius of Madaura probably wrote the "Metamorphoses" or "The golden donkey" - the actual title of the novel - in the second half of the 2nd century AD, around 160 - 170 AD. The work is the only completely preserved Latin novel from antiquity and contains autobiographical and mythological elements.
It consists of a mixture of adventure, satire and allegory elements and is particularly known for the interwoven story “Cupid and Psyche”.
This couple has been interpreted countless times in the history of art - painted on canvas or carved in marble - by Wilhelm-Adolphe Bouguereau, Antonio Canova, Auguste Rodin and many others. Always in the style of the time and, in most cases, clearly visible as a couple.
Why this scene
In 2021, I first had the idea to reinterpret this classic theme. After countless sketches, detailed drawings and a color study, I began implementing it on canvas at the beginning of June 2021.
The painting interprets the brief moment of supreme tension and doubt in which Psyche recognizes the truth of her heart and the lie of her sisters and, at the same moment, breaks the promise she made to her lover.
In her left hand she holds the oil lamp, the only source of light in the scene. With her right hand, in which she also holds the knife, she carefully lifts the cloth that covered her lover. The silhouette of the knife can be seen in the backlight. Psyche's gaze falls to the bottom right on her lover, the god Amor. The viewer of the scene is excluded from Psyche's gaze and can only guess at the second person present.
Psyche was one of three sisters, the most beautiful of the three, so beautiful that even a god fell in love with her. After her two sisters found out about Psyche's love affair, they were full of envy and jealousy. The two sisters managed to sow doubts in Psyche's heart and urged her to kill Cupid that night, saying that he was actually a monster. Their plan worked and Psyche, who had never seen her lover before, doubted and believed her evil sisters. This is how the scene came about on the night she wanted to kill her lover.
Why this interpretation?
Anyone who knows the story will also know the scene depicted here.
I have deliberately only portrayed one of the two protagonists - Psyche. This is because Psyche herself had never been able to see her lover until this fateful moment. Cupid made the mortal Psyche promise never to see him. So the two only met at night and Psyche could only trust her remaining four senses: touch, smell, hearing and taste. This alone was enough to win Psyche's heart over and make her fall madly in love with Cupid.
In all known interpretations, both protagonists of the story can be seen.
In order to do justice to an essential part of the story and to create a sense of suspense, I have deliberately refrained from depicting Cupid. The viewer can only guess at Cupid's beauty - and I might never have done it justice in my interpretation.
The shimmering background, which is structured in complementary colors, sharply defines the scenery and makes it stand out clearly for the viewer, giving the painting a three-dimensional effect.
Why this format?
The 'theme' of the motif.
The impressive atmosphere offers a lot of room for interpretation and therefore an equal amount of space. Of course, the motif also works very well on a smaller scale, but in this case the format underlines the intense charisma of the moment and the viewer can immerse themselves in the scene.
With a side length of 180 x 120 cm, this painting is one of the large formats. A large picture also needs a large wall, or so the widespread opinion goes. This is not always true, because large pictures look like a window on smaller walls. They literally open up the wall, capture the view in the room and create a 'view'. Large formats have a calming effect, they structure the room and underline the interior.
And the happy ending?
Oh yes ... the three evil sisters died and from the love of Cupid and Psyche a healthy daughter was born: 'Volubta' - lust.
In the upcoming newsletter
I present to you another large-format painting and its special features from the series 'Three works - three stories':
"felled wood"
from 2022
Until then, have fun exploring!
Your painter,
Klaus