Byzantine nights 2019

Michael Cheval’s painting presents a modern reinterpretation of Byzantine imagery through a surrealist lens. The central figure is adorned with pearls and a golden crown reminiscent of Byzantine empresses, symbols of divine power and status. Notice the cluster of faces emerging from her side. This motif echoes the medieval concept of the "homunculus," a miniature human believed to reside within sperm, representing potential and inherited traits. This idea, though archaic, finds resonance in the psychoanalytic understanding of inherited memories and archetypes. Such motifs reoccur through history, appearing in the Renaissance and later in 19th-century occultism, always carrying a sense of hidden knowledge and the subconscious. The closed eyes and serene expression of the central figure evoke a dreamlike state, a visual invitation to delve into the depths of collective memory. These faces emerging from the unconscious speak to the cyclical nature of history and the persistence of cultural motifs that continue to haunt and inspire.