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Das Marienleben (diptych)

2007

Oil on Belgian linen, 122 x 91.5 each cm

The music

Composer: Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Works: Das Marienleben Op.27: (1922-23) for the left panel and das Marienleben (1935-48 version) for the right panel
Suggested performance: Veronika Lorenz-Kuhn, Wolfgang Kaiser (the 1923 version) and Judith Kellock, Zita Carno (the 1948 version) (recording label: Thorofon, Koch Int'l Classics)

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Synopsis

This is one of my most important works. It was created on the background of Paul Hindemith's "Das Marienleben" (The Life of Mary), in turn based on Rainer Maria Rilke's poem-cycle of that name. The painting depicts the moment of Annunciation, when Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that she will give birth to Christ. The interpretation of this subject is completely new and unique here. The emphasis is on the two figures - Mary and the Angel - like two portraits - one of the Mother Earth and the other one: the Figure-representative of the Gods. Around the head of Mary is the halo made of the blue sky with the 12 signs of the Zodiac, showing the constellations which Man's Spirit must go through. These two paintings are absolutely inseparable, as the Earth cannot be separated from Heavens.