Don Quixote 

Editor: Here we have Gustave Dore’s “Don Quixote,” an ink drawing transformed into a black and white photograph. There’s such high contrast, and everyone is lurking within this very dark cave, except the cave’s opening where bright light pierces through. It looks ominous. What story do you see unfolding here? Curator: Ominous is a brilliant word for it. Dore truly mastered the dramatic, didn’t he? He saw Don Quixote not just as a comical figure, but a deeply human one wrestling with dreams and reality. Look at how the light catches those figures at the cave entrance. To me, it hints at a world outside, a world of adventure Quixote yearns for, versus the confining darkness of the cave – representing perhaps the harshness of reality? What do you make of the central figure’s gesture? He seems caught between leading and recoiling, don’t you think? Almost mirroring Quixote’s own inner conflict. Editor: That’s a great point. I hadn’t noticed the hesitation, but it’s totally there. Is it about the futility of chasing after impossible ideals? Or is he encouraging us to venture beyond the status quo? Curator: Maybe both? That’s the delicious ambiguity of art. We bring our own battles, our own yearning for escape to it. Dore, with his dramatic flair, just gives it a stage and a very intense spotlight. Perhaps we should be asking ourselves, what caves are we currently trying to escape? Editor: Wow, that gives me a lot to ponder! It sounds like Dore challenges us to look at the Quixote within ourselves and the boundaries we want to transcend. Thank you! Curator: My pleasure. Maybe we should all be a little more Quixotic in our own way.