Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Woman on seashore 1887 oil on paper, mounted on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
You are allowed to like
no one, you know. The characters
are not people.
They are aspects of a dilemma or conflict.
Three parts: just as the soul is divided,
ego, superego, id. Likewise
the three levels of the known world,
a kind of diagram that separates
heaven from earth from hell.
You must ask yourself:
where is it snowing?
White of forgetfulness,
of desecrations –
It is snowing on earth; the cold wind says
Persephone is having sex in hell.
Unlike the rest of us, she doesn't know
what winter is, only that
she is what causes it.
– from Persephone the Wanderer, published in Averno by Louise Glück (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006)
Henri Fantin-Latour Roses and nasturtiums in a vase 1883 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Georges Seurat Fort Samson, Grandcamp 1885 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Claude Monet Garden in Bordighera 1884 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Claude Monet Meadows at Giverny 1888 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Paul Cézanne House along a road ca. 1881 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Paul Gauguin Street in Rouen 1884 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Paul Gauguin Rue Jouvenet in Rouen 1884 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Paul Gauguin Orchard under the church at Bihorel 1884 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Paul Gauguin At the window 1882 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Paul Gauguin Bouquet 1884 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Paul Gauguin Coming and Going, Martinique 1887 oil on canvas Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid |
Jean Louis Forain Dancer ca. 1885-86 pastel Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
Édouard Manet Portrait of Mme Jules Guillemet ca. 1880 drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |