Inspired by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) – The traveller contemplating a sea of clouds (1818) – Oil on canvas – 15,75 x 11,81 inch
While Gaspard stands right on the top of the rock facing the clouds and mountains huge show, he remembers these few lines of Homer’s Iliad: “Only life does not return; it can not be taken back or recovered, when it has teeth through the fence. “.
He lost everything, absolutely everything. A battlefield has wiped out everything. Suddenly, he saw his wife, his two sons, his sister, his brother, his parents and grandparents. Held by … he doesn’t remember. He ran towards them, but the elements, when unleashed, are like hell, using evil and superhuman strength. The earth opened in two. A fault several hundred meters high and a few meters wide. A gap far, far too big to cross. Yet he took a step back and tried to jump but two young children by his side to save from the gaping hole or survival instinct? A heroic or selfish gesture? Gaspard at that time, doesn’t consider it as an issue. He acts according to … No matter what, he just moves. He raises with his right hand a little girl of four years old barely suspended in the vacuum and hanging by a thread. With his left hand, he picks a little boy up by one foot, barely walking, staggering, innocent behind his parents carried away by … He raises his head just in time to slip into the last look of his wife swallowed up like hundreds of other people here that day to attend a show of … What was the show about already? No matter what now that nothing is left, absolutely nothing? If these two children, orphans now, but who only have him left. So ? What other choice than carry on his way, loose thoughts, cotton legs. Survive, whatever it takes. Join other life heroes, in the chaos of existence. Honor his people in his memory.
While Gaspard stands right on the top of the rock facing the clouds and mountains huge show, he remembers these few lines of Homer’s Iliad: “Only life does not return; it can not be taken back or recovered, when it has teeth through the fence. “.
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