“«I discovered» the greatest religious painter of our time”: Herbert’s Rouault
Abstract
The essay describes Zbigniew Herbert’s fascination with the biography and creative work of Georges Rouault. The author discusses the essayist texts on the French painter previously published by the poet in the press in the 1950s, as well as an early poem titled “Paysage légendaire” written in 1949, not published during the poet’s lifetime. The ekphrastic description of the elements characteristic for Rouault’s landscape painting presented in the Herbert’s poem is analyzed in the context of biblical symbolism. The author discovers the poet’s strategy of using the ambiguity of biblical symbols to build a poetic interpretation of Rouault’s oeuvre. The essay demonstrates the poet’s transposition of a painter’s sign onto a word, and it offers an insight into Herbert’s vision of the French artist in the changing context of contemporary religious art.
Keywords:
Zbigniew Herbert, Georges Rouault, religious art, biblical symbolism, ekphrasisReferences
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