The trauma of birth

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: private collection.

The painting considered one of the most significant in the heritage of the master was created in Paris after it was discovered that the artist had serious heart disease. The proximity of death, which became an inevitable and fast reality, made the artist re-read the book of the same name by outstanding psychoanalyst Otto Rank. A black-brown background with a stressful “enumeration” of objects (embryos, bloodied handprints, gloves, etc.) reflects the emotions of the author and gives the viewer associations of the complexity of the appearance of a human being. The work symbolized both the state of the author pondering about the beginning and end of life and the mosaic of his dreams. At the auction of 2013, the painting became one of the most expensive lots.