THE ICONOGRAPHY OF A FALLEN LOVE (ANNE BOLEYN)
triptych 2016
acrylic and oil on canvas
330 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm

The triptych is the fruit of a long-term internal creative dialogue with the use and meaning of Gold and Copper. I do love the famous use of these colors by Gustav Klimt and by medieval iconographers. My own contemporary interpretation (or maybe transfer) features dozens of really thin color layers and gradients mixed with Gold, Copper and Earth-Colors. Each of the three paintings highlights a different aspect of this transfer, but they contain not only a creative message as single piece. You can look at them also in a major conceptional context and from combined aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents. This triptych THE ICONOGRAPHY OF A FALLEN LOVE (ANNE BOLEYN) has to tell a story.

About my thoughts and emotions during the painting process: Love comes, love goes. The rise and fall from grace in ten years. England in Renaissance... Speaking about Anne Boleyn, the second wife of the famous King Henry VIII who has been called the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had. In spring 1526 Henry began his pursuit of Anne Boleyn, an attractive and beautiful young lady at his court. He felt in deep love and wrote a collection of passionate love letters to her. But she resisted his attempts to seduce her, refusing to become only his mistress (which her sister Mary had been). She wanted more, and so he proposed marriage to her and she accepted. For her love he was willing to move mountains and annulled his former marriage and declared his independence from the Holy See that was the start of the English Reformation. Anne was crowned Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII on 1 June 1533. She gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. But as a queen Anne refused to play the submissive role expected of her. The vivacity and opinionated intellect that had made her so attractive as an illicit lover made her too independent for the largely ceremonial role of a royal wife and it made her many enemies. Henry, who started to dislike Anne's constant irritability and violent temper, was more and more disappointed to have only a daughter rather a son. Anne's downfall came shortly after she had recovered from her final miscarriage. At this time the king found a new mistress and needed reasons for his marriage with Anne to end. Anne Boleyn was arrested and sent to the Tower of London where a jury found she guilty for high treson. It was a propaganda trial with untrue accusations, but nobody rose the word for Anne. On the morning of Friday 19 May 1536 she was beheaded within the Tower of London and buried in an unmarked grave. The day after Anne's execution Henry became engaged to Jane Seymour, who had been one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting. They were married ten days later (the third of finally six wives of King Henry VIII). Beside all politics and intrigues, what did happen to this former so passionate big love? Remember the final sentence of the famous Song of the Nibelungs (5th century): 'At the end love bears always suffering'. Love comes, loves goes. The rise and fall of Anne Boleyn in ten years...

The triptych combines following 3 works and should "read" from left to right:

"AT THE DYING OF THE LIGHT"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 100 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
left part of the triptych

"ARE YOU WITH ME AT FIRST AND LAST LIGHT"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
center part of the triptych

"THE AWAKENING COASTLAND"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 100 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
right part of the triptych

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"I beseech you now with all my heart definitely to let me know your whole mind as to the love between us..."
- Extract of a love letter from Henry to Anne

"O Death, rock me asleep, bring me to quiet rest, let pass my weary guiltless ghost out of my careful breast."
- Anne Boleyn

"Of all losses, time is the most irrecuperable for it can never be redeemed."
"Two beheadings out of six wives is too many."
- Henry VIII of England

IT IS ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN
Triptych 2016/17
380 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas

LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS.
LARGE-SIZED TRIOLOGY AS TRIPTYCH.

We are all connected with nature. If we are thoughtful, if we are regardful, we can feel and see the strong bonds between earth and us. From the beginning to the end of time life is dictated by light, seasons and by darkness, water and winds. We all have our fate. And we are on a lifelong journey from source to sea, from the mountains to the valleys. Life's path is no straight line but sometimes a labyrinth. We have to cross lightless forests and wintry plateaus, have to face strong storms and bleak deserts. But every trip, every turn and new risk makes us stronger and wiser. We are failing but learning. Day by day we come closer to our roots. Will we learn the lesson(s) and move on? We do need the night to recognize the beauty of light. It is so much more than a metaphor. Darkness is not the end. It is just the last step before the returning daylight. It can be an alliance or a duel, but in the end nature will always win.

I share the opinion of the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944), that paintings contain not only a creative message as single piece. You can look at them also in a major conceptional context. This triology IT IS ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN combines three very poetic works (2016/2017) from aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents.

* * *

The triptych combines following works and should "read" from left to right:

"WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS ON SACRED LAND"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
left part of the triptych

"WHERE THE WHITE WINDS BLOW II"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016. 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
center part of the triptych

"WHEN MORNING CONQUERS THE DARK OF NIGHT"
arylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
right part of the triptych

* * * *

"It is said that the darkest hour is just before the dawn."
- Thomas Fuller (1608 - 1661)

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."
- Aristotle (384 - 322 BC)

AS WIDE AND AS WAVERING AS THE OCEAN
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 4 cm / 59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 1,6 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
2019

Inspired by these magic moments when the Southern California morning sun rises above the Pacific Ocean in Venice Beach, Los Angeles...

What is this life for? You don't answer. Your thoughts are offshore. And your eyes stare at me in the dark. Are you scared to be lonely? Everyone has its own path to follow. Reality is no peacekeeper. We were only giants in the morning light. You cannot hide what you aren't anymore, down by the sea. Don't speak a word, listen to the breaking waves. No one calls our ships back to port. Your soul and my heart, as wide and as wavering as the ocean.

CB/2019

* * *

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
~ Mother Teresa

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came."
~ John F. Kennedy

IN BREATHLESS SILENCE
2012
59,1 (w) x 47,2 (h) x 0,79 inches
150 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas

An older work, just back from a multi-year exhibition: breathless, speechless and silent in the face of the rough sea raising a storm onshore. Do we still remember yesterday when the waters were smooth? Breathless, speechless and silent, will you still love me tomorrow and when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

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“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.