Stages
of making the painting |
Some things
just stick in your mind. Such a thing can be a learning situation
from fifty years ago. Believe or not, this happened in 1951. I was
wandering around in the gallery of ancient art in the Louvre somewhere
at the ground floor. I was wondering how such large sphinxes
could have been brought inside the building. Napoleon must have
liked them. I thought they looked quite unfriendly and repulsive,
quite as official art usually does. Then I entered the gallery of
Mesopotamian art. Inside the glass cabinets there were small terra
cotta scupltures from a couple of thousand years ago. Shepherds
had made them to pass the time. At that moment I realised the difference
between individual and official art. This is an old recollection, but
memories occupy our minds. The subconscious produces memories that
are different
from the daytime consciousness. |