Art critic Marina Khaikina and psychoanalyst Andrey Rossokhin examine one painting and tell us about what they know and what they feel. What for? So that, (not) agreeing with them, we are more clearly aware of our own attitude towards the picture, the plot, the artist and ourselves.
Golkonda (Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA) was written in 1953. Golconda is an ancient Indian fortress, a legendary diamond mining center and a symbol of wealth: it is believed that the famous Kohinoor and Regent diamonds were found there. Magritte created several similar works on this subject.
“We are the same and unique”
Marina Khaikina, art critic: “The images that the surrealist Magritte offers the viewer are intrusive and absurd, and our consciousness reacts vividly to dissonance with reality: we freeze and try to solve the puzzle. It is in this process of comprehension that, according to Magritte, lies the true meaning of the picture. And each viewer has his own meaning.
For me, Golconda Magritte’s original reflection on the place of each individual in a society of his kind, on the balance of the general and the individual. We see many almost identical male figures successively moving away from the viewer. They are dressed in the same coats and bowlers, their poses are similar, which makes us think of them as a group, a community of people. And they are arranged in the form of rhombic lattices that remind us of the crystal structure of a diamond (remember that the painting is named after the diamond capital of Golconda). The world of people is a kind of polyhedron, our existence is subject to strict norms. But if you look closely, each person in the picture is different from the other, individual and unique in its own way.
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- Monetization of the subconscious
“The fantasy of omnipotence leaves no room for life”
Andrey Rossokhin, psychoanalyst: “The more I immerse myself in this picture, the more anxiety and discomfort grips me. I feel the suffocating atmosphere of the world in which there is nothing living, natural. And indeed, there is not a single tree, not a single blade of grass. Even the sky is depicted as an artificial background, decoration. The curtains on the windows are drawn. My fantasy cannot and does not want to break through these curtains. It feels like there is nothing behind them. Figures in business coats and bowlers soaring impassively in the sky, it would seem, emphasize the power of men – the powers that be. Everything is available to them, even walking in the sky. I imagine that these men are becoming more and more, and finally they merge into one huge gray object that fills the entire space of the picture. It erases not only sexual, but also any individual differences. It becomes like a giant Phallus, a stone woman, the image of a pagan deity of the ancient peoples. Perhaps no one but Magritte has conveyed so accurately the poisonous power of the fantasy of omnipotence. Magritte shows us that this omnipotence is based on the power of men or on the power of money. But emotionally, the painting conveys a much deeper message: in a world where the fantasy of infinite power reigns, there is no place for nature and a living person.
However, suddenly I find refuge in the painting of Magritte. I notice that the floating men do not take up the whole space of the picture. On the right we see a free corner of the house. It is on it that Magritte himself bears the signature. I feel that the world of omnipotence has its limits, it is not infinite. I can’t look into the windows of this corner house, but my imagination draws a living space full of feelings, energy, creativity.”
Rene Magritte (René Magritte, 1898-1967), Belgian surrealist artist, author of puzzle paintings that raise questions about the essence of being. Magritte encourages viewers to think about the deceitfulness of the visible, about the difference between the image and reality.