Arshile Gorky, El
artista con su madre, ca. 1930, óleo sobre tela, 152 x 127 cm. Museo Whitney de
Arte Americano, Nueva York
Leemos por ahí:
The photo at the left sight is the only image from artist’s
childhood taken at a studio in Van before 1912.The photograph was aimed to be
sent to Gorky’s absent father. Gorky worked at the painting at the right sight
for ten years, yet, leaving it “unfinished”…
Even without knowing the story you know it is about loss.
Gorky has given his mother a mask-like face, as if hewn in stone, and perhaps
it is this, or the ghost-white fall of her dress, or the flatness of her body
on the canvas, that tells us this is an image of someone dead. There is a
monumental distance between us and her – she is remote as a statue. The boy
standing by her is distant too, in his formal coat, clutching a pink flower. He
has signs of life. Dressed as if he cares about himself, he is future-bound.
But his face is so sad…
