A picture of symbolisms

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon in the university city of Aachen. I was strolling around the market place after a heavy meal at a Lebaneese Restaurant, wondering what to do. Soon in a nearby hall I saw a banner saying ''Aachener Kunstmuseum''. Jobless, but curious, I entered the hall which had a ceiling almost 30 feet high supported by massive pillars. It turned out to be a modern art exhibition. Except for in movies like Dil Chahta Hai and Anbe Sivam, I had not seen how a modern art exhibition would look like.

Having heard that people spend almost months in simply understanding the nuances of a painting, I thought this would be an opportunity for me to decipher the inner meaning beyond the obvious complex interplay of colors. As expected, my success rate was pitiable as I hardly understood what they really meant except for a few potraits of wonderful people. All of them were a good treat to the eyes to express what i understood.

Intimidated by the cryptic messages and disappointed with my Modern art quotient, I decided to leave the hall. Soon I came across a picture that I thought i could understand fully. The picture was painted on a rectangular shaped canvas, divided equally into four rectangular portions. Symmetrically placed at the center of the canvas was a bleeding heart with a few scars symbolizing losses, a few voids symbolizing death of a few near ones on it. Next to the heart was an image of a medicine, which symbolized healing for the wounded heart. Right at the centre of the heart, was a man raising his hands up in the air, showing his strong muscles. Attached to his hands were a lot of strings. These strings were attached to all the entities in the four rectangular portions showing their influence on our heart.

The top left rectangular portion had a signboard which had different career choices like Engineer, Doctor, Chef, Businessman etc all in a green background. It also had a Lifeline which started and ended in zero symbolizing the highs and lows of life.

The left bottom of the picture symbolized Family which had images of all people which one could think of in your life like Father, Mother, Wife, Children, Brothers, Sisters, Grand Parents, Uncles, Aunts and Cousins.

The right bottom corner had the most interesting symbolisms. A cradle, which symbolized our birth and early childhood. A schoolbag, which symbolized the early schooling years. There was also a wardrobe and some dresses inside which symbolized the lifestyle and dress sense. These images were all drawn inside a rock on which it was written, 500 Kg and attached to a chain. Upon my request, the painter elaborated to me the idea behind this. According to him, the memories of ones own childhood weighs upon us heavier than anything.

Towards the top corner were symbolisms from different religions ..Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc. ''Imagine a large mirror. What if breaks into pieces, small and large. You still can see yourself in it, but it is not the only picture. Similar is the truth behind religion. Only when you hold the pieces together, will the true picture unleash itself'', explained the painter giving a philiosophical topping to his painting.

Atlast, having unveiled for myself such interesting insights, I decided to move on and write about the same.....

V.Hariharan