#duchart

[erosforms]

Jan Steen, The Lovesick Maiden, 1660

[beautiful-artwork]

The tower of Babel

"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:4).

You probably know this painting. But have you ever had a closer look at it? I haven't until recently, and that's why I didn't really appreciate it. The way I see it is that in order to fully understand this painting you have to look at it from two perspectives. First - from 'far away', from the perspective of the outsider. And secondly you need to examine it closely, look at it from the point of view of a single individual, tiny figure working hard to build something bigger that itself, something meaningful. On this painting tower is not jet completed, not big enough. Workers aren't proud jet. They are hopefully and persistently looking for pride.

You can explore this painting on Google Arts & Culture