Well, first association moves to a dying man. Perhaps a soldier, but all that reveals him is a coat, not necessarily a strictly army gear. And dying, assuming a wounded man gets cold, buttons his coat, before the worst (death?) comes true. The brutality, the peril, city orphans - all this sketches a war image, and the pile of sorrows goes neatly (maybe too much) with it. And the girl is certainly a metaphor, an angel, divine representation, his Ovidius to heaven...
It always thrills me over and over again how this artist manages to masquerade, transform, flip, combine.. very opposite things together! In this case, to sing a traumatic theme of war casualty into a simply beautiful celebration of hope...
Well, first association moves to a dying man. Perhaps a soldier, but all that reveals him is a coat, not necessarily a strictly army gear. And dying, assuming a wounded man gets cold, buttons his coat, before the worst (death?) comes true. The brutality, the peril, city orphans - all this sketches a war image, and the pile of sorrows goes neatly (maybe too much) with it. And the girl is certainly a metaphor, an angel, divine representation, his Ovidius to heaven... It always thrills me over and over again how this artist manages to masquerade, transform, flip, combine.. very opposite things together! In this case, to sing a traumatic theme of war casualty into a simply beautiful celebration of hope...