Painting description

The painting depicts a mysterious landscape in which the foreground elements stand out with their intense colors. At the center is a woman with long golden hair, kneeling on turquoise ground. Beside her, with extraordinary attentiveness, stands a wolf whose menacing gaze contrasts with the woman’s vulnerability. A little farther off one can see a ruined abbey whose Gothic architecture lends the whole scene a note of melancholy. Bare-branched trees give the whole a mystical, slightly unsettling atmosphere. Interestingly, two apples lie on the ground, drawing the eye with their perfect form. The mood of the painting, as if suspended between dream and waking, is a Stonehenge-like nostalgia, a mystery seasoned with a pinch of enigma. The artist uses soft brushstrokes, creating an impressive play of light and shadow on the wolf’s fur and barely perceptible, subtle gradations of color in the sky. The painting evokes a wide range of emotions. One can feel both unease and calm. Interpretations may vary: for some it is a symbol of innocence in the face of wild nature, for others a journey into oneself. As my niece would say: “That wolf probably wants to make friends!” The mixture of formal and colloquial style in the narration makes the reception of the work more personal. It adds a sense of discovering the work’s hidden meanings.