Ruïne van een tempel: tweede droom 1894

Editor: This is "Ruin of a Temple: Second Dream" from 1894 by Karel Petrus Cornelis de Bazel, made using a linocut print technique. The mood feels intensely spiritual and… symbolic. What do you make of this intriguing piece? Curator: It whispers, doesn’t it? Like a secret passed down through generations of dreamers. Look at how de Bazel layers geometry and figuration – that central triangle and circle, cradling the…ark, perhaps? – contrasted against the figure below, almost cocooned within the stars. Tell me, what does that contrast evoke for you? Editor: It feels like two worlds colliding, the earthly and the divine, maybe? There's definitely a yearning in the figure below… Curator: Precisely! That yearning, that seeking. De Bazel, remember, was steeped in Symbolism. He was fascinated by the unseen, the mystical forces shaping our world. I wonder if the "ruin" isn't just a physical space but the crumbling of certainty, making space for new dreams, new temples…new inner explorations. What do you make of the two figures above then, set amongst the heavens like that? Editor: That’s interesting, I guess that those two carry a body, so they may be about death? Or life depending on the angle you view them? Curator: Ah, precisely. See how this geometric linocut style brings about more ideas! The layering of stars with people from our world is what Bazel was going for, right? I learn something every time with pieces like these, where it feels like I unlock new meanings. Editor: I agree; thinking about the ruins of temples has really opened a broader sense of possibilities in both reality and artistic depictions.