Shiva en Parvati met kinderen 1830

This painting at the Rijksmuseum depicts Shiva and Parvati with their children, rendered with delicate detail. Shiva, marked by the crescent moon, sits beneath a tree, a trident close by. These are potent symbols: Shiva, the destroyer and transformer, bearing the moon, symbol of time, and holding the trident, representing his power over the past, present, and future. Consider Shiva’s trident compared to Neptune's, the Roman god of the sea, which recurs in art across cultures. Neptune's trident symbolizes his dominion over the seas, yet it stems from similar notions of power found in the hands of gods across eras. The lotus flower, also visible in the painting, symbolizes purity, love, and rebirth. It is a motif seen in ancient Egyptian art, where the lotus represented the sun and creation, evolving across cultures to symbolize enlightenment and spiritual awakening in Buddhist art. These symbols echo through time, continually reappearing and reshaping themselves. The image taps into a deep, shared reservoir of human experience and collective memory.