The cure

One of the frightful paintings I’ve seen is Franz von Stuck’s Circe. Surely you’re thinking “Naaaa, that’s not a Goya’s or a Bosch’s hell. This orange eye has not a clue”, and certainly it is not. Let me explain why, at least for me, it’s so frightening. The chiaroscuro that Stuck uses is an allegorical element, because at the bottom, it only reflects the darkness that surrounds the story, and the prison that Circe really is behind her beauty. That doesn’t mean that the Argonauts were white doves; this is not about a battle of genders.

The issue here is what happens when beauty, darkness, and seduction are gathered. Does it ring the essence of human history’s bell? This master work hides a powerful message: the irresistible seductive smile may offer a poisoned cup, you’ve been warned!

Tilla Durieux als Circe, Franz von Stuck, 1913

No need to see to whom Circe is offering the cup; she’s doing it to the viewer, and we all are the viewers.

I’ll end with this mimicry of reflection, all that lifestyle that is for sale, and almost everybody buys, is nothing but the advertised Circe’s beauty and seductive smile, the poison system of propaganda spreads everywhere, saturating our mind and senses.

So, you don’t want a sip from that darkness, because the cure might be death.

The cure