Windows

French version

In the painting of Renaissance, especially in the Italian one, the window, the veduta, that opens to an outward space, is a pure intellectual construction, it’s an assembly, something which comes to add to the scene of the inside. The introduction of the veduta has not for aim to represent what is simultaneously seen, the inside of the room and at the same time what appears through the window. It has for purpose to excite the imagination of the spectator of the picture, to remind him that the scene does not take place in an enclosed space, but has for background the Universe.

On the contrary, the theme of the window, considered as a real interface between inside and outside, between two different spaces simultaneously seen, is a modern invention. That theme was magnificently dealt with by Bonnard and Matisse. In that respect my furrow is in their wake.

Titian - Venus and the Organist – c. 1545-1546 – oil on canvas

This is a superb picture, the eroticism of which is at the same time insolent and held back. The connection between the inside and the landscape has nothing realistic: the light does not come from the outside, but is irradiating from the body of the Goddess. Nature, here, a park with a rigorous perspective, could announce French classicism, which did not exist at Titian’s age. It is like a mirage, the daydream of the musician, or rather the creation of both music and desire.

Titian - Venus and Cupid with a Partridge – c. 1550 – oil on canvas

Here, again, our look is attracted by the brilliant body of Venus. The landscape would have been a simple décor, if there were not the partridge, which is supposed to have flown from there, underneath, up to the sill of the window.

Albert Lichten - My Beloved has gone down in his Garden I – 2006 – oil on canvas

This picture is an illustration of a passage of the Hymn of Hymns. The look of the fiancée (the people of Israel ) dives into the garden where her beloved ( God himself ) is gathering lilies for her. What the fiancée is seeing is shown to the spectator: what classical perspective does not allow to show comes here into view. In other terms, inside and outside penetrate into each other.

Albert Lichten - My Beloved has gone down in his Garden II– 2006 – oil on canvas

Another version of the same theme. Here the light and of course the connection of colors are different from those of the first version.

Albert Lichten - Couple and Window IV – 2001 – oil on canvas

The scene here is different from above. The look of the man embraces both the mountainous landscape outside and the woman lying inside. That circular look demands a torsion of space.

Retour au haut de la page