barcelona And what is the truth?

In the portico of the Passion of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona the sentence is in the Catalan language and it means exactly; 'and what is the truth'. Gaudi asks a very enigmatic question......

Dimitris, love the light, details, perfect balance on exposure between bright & dark, exquisite composition too, and almost 3D effect!     Best regards

Wow, what a superb composition and the b/w work is outstanding.  I'm still trying to decide about the worth of the hand in the lower right, but right now I contend it adds an interesting element.  Excellent work...  Mike

Thanks for your visit and compliment. I see what you mean about the hand. You are probably right, I had something else in mind but is far too complicated. I uploaded a new version without the hand. The question puzzled me for a long time. I now think I have the plausible answer.I will post it tomorrow evening at the earliest.

How did I miss this ?!

Because Barca is for a lifetime stay and not for a 10 days...

Lucky me, a part of my soul stays there...

Exceptional emotional detail.

Great eye !

Congrats Dimitris !

The irony is that this part was not made by Gaudi...

La Sagrada Familia was started 1822 and it was designed by Gaudi, Paul Goldberger called it the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the middle ages.

The design drawing for the Passion Facade was found in Gaudi’s pocket when Gaudi tragically died in 1926 when he was hit by a tram.

Construction of the Passion Façade begun in 1954 long after Gaudi’s death and Suvirachs, the main sculptor responsible, followed the instructions and drawings left by Gaudi. Here we must grand Suvirachs some artistic licence in his interpretation of Gaudi’s design.

The famous question that Gaudi asks; ‘And what is the truth’ is generally attributed to the question that Pontius Pilate asked when cross examining Jesus ( John 18) one that is surely as old as humanity itself.

But there is a more sinister interpretation to the question and this is got nothing to do with Cameron’s sloppy movie, The Da Vinci code or other similar stories. During the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance there was a discovery of old Arab documents that basically said that Jesus survived the cross thus challenging the official Church version. Is Gaudi then saying by asking the famous question, that he knows what the truth is and he is challenging the Church? But if we accept that we open a whole new can of worms…so let’s sleeping dogs lie.

The hand, Mike, which was included in the original post, depicts the agony of man that cannot answer a question like that.

I must apologize for being so late in posting this as on the day I posted the picture above I fell through an open trap door in our downstairs bathroom that was opened in order to get access underneath the house in order to lay a new phone wire. It was dark as the light was switched off. As a result I was gasping for air and my wife called for an ambulance I was taken to the nearest hospital where I was given a CT scan and an X-ray these showed multiple rib fractures, palm contusion and minimal haemothorax and I was prepared for an operation, fortunately the operation was not necessary and instead I was put on an epidural drip for five days…I was in intensive care for two days and a week in a trauma ward…by comparison my injuries were nothing compared to other people. My thanks go to the marvelous ambulance service, the efficient and professional medical staff that helped look after me during my ordeal and my wife for looking after me so well. Fortunately again no vital organ was punctured and now I feel that I am well on the way to recovery.

 

4 days actually Florin...:-) and the reason you missed this post it is simply because I did not request a critique until now. You should also be more careful with with where you leave your heart...-:). Thank you for your encouraging words.

 

 

Thank you for viewing and commenting.

Ahhh, what a difference an interpretation makes!  The image without the hand is a classical representation of what was seen and certainly offers all that the artist wanted depicted; but the image with the hand (and knowledge of history), combined with the new artist's interpretation (yours through your photograph) takes on an air of fine art... 

 

Well done and I certainly wish you only the best of health as you recover from your fall....  Mike

 

"Watch out for that first step, it's a doozy!"  - Groundhog Day (movie)

There is a story behind every picture and I certainly want to know the back story of certain pictures. In this instant it was important to me to find out the historical associations of the work. I strongly believe that any culture that ignores history is doomed....

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to write this comment and the above, your kind words and your good wishes.

PS I will certainly look out for the movie you mentioned...-:).