Nguyen Xuan Huy
Insomnia, 2024, oil on canvas, 207 x 300 cm, 50700 Euro
Nguyen's composition "Insomnia" shows her protagonists in the realm of dreams, between wakefulness and sleep. The structure of the picture is reminiscent of Nicolas Poussin's dense allegorical composition "The Realm of Flora" (1631, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden). Just as Flora spreads the colors of the world with her flowers, spreading tragedy, desire and death, the bearer of the black vase in the middle of the picture spreads the precious dark essence of sleep. The gaze of the woman on the left of the picture is not fixed on anything, it is directed inwards. She is carrying two black pillows, but cannot find peace. Behind her, a kneeling man looks spellbound at the shower of sparks that pours over the entire picture from the right. He appears three times in the picture like a sequence in a comic or clip. In the armchair in the foreground, a woman spreads her arms and legs; except for her right leg and right hand, her body is jet black; she is sleeping. On the right side of the picture, five black figures are entangled in a nightmarish hustle and bustle.
Nguyen's composition "Insomnia" shows her protagonists in the realm of dreams, between wakefulness and sleep. The structure of the picture is reminiscent of Nicolas Poussin's dense allegorical composition "The Realm of Flora" (1631, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden). Just as Flora spreads the colors of the world with her flowers, spreading tragedy, desire and death, the bearer of the black vase in the middle of the picture spreads the precious dark essence of sleep. The gaze of the woman on the left of the picture is not fixed on anything, it is directed inwards. She is carrying two black pillows, but cannot find peace. Behind her, a kneeling man looks spellbound at the shower of sparks that pours over the entire picture from the right. He appears three times in the picture like a sequence in a comic or clip. In the armchair in the foreground, a woman spreads her arms and legs; except for her right leg and right hand, her body is jet black; she is sleeping. On the right side of the picture, five black figures are entangled in a nightmarish hustle and bustle.
I am interested in this work of art.