Are you sure that's a rose? That looks more like a tulip to me, both judging by the flower, but particularly the leaf. Also, I don't really see the resemblence to Gene Hunt. If I squint, I can sort of see Misha Collins, though.
Still, interesting theories. The checkerboard does remind me of the office roof as well.
I think the figure's a ringer for a younger Guv, maybe when he was around 19 or so (the time he would have been murdered - thanks to jaceybatts for the caps):
That painting of a young Queen Liz has really been bugging me for some reason. That's not what Her Maj looked like in the eighties, and there were lots more current portraits available by then. Also, why are there two of them...one in Gene's office, and one in CID? And why is Ray's...er...portrait bigger than the Guv's?
Wow, I've only recently been getting behind the St. Michael theory since Keats came along and I've been all PARADISE LOST! and you've been at it since 2008.
Also, re: Keats the poet? His poem Endymion - as well as the Greek myth it's based on - has huge resonances with this painting...and with A2A itself, depending on how you look at it.
And yeah...if Gene even thinks about laying down in a chair over the next few weeks, I am so gonna be all over it.
Bit of OT but also another John Keats' poet Bright Star, made me think about episode 2 of series 3.
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art-- Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night And watching, with eternal lids apart, Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task Of pure ablution round earth's human shores, Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask Of snow upon the mountains and the moors-- No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast, To feel for ever its soft fall and swell, Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath, And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
Also - the painting you linked to made me think of one of the possible meanings of 6-6-20, that's it's a Bible verse.
Joshua 6:20: "When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city."
I happened to stumble across a Bowie album from 1999 today where he's cradling himself on the cover, and boy did I start madly theorizing. But there's really not enough clues to go on, I think without more solid info we're all just guessing. But it's fun to do.
I think, given the opportunity, I could apply those comparisons to literally any painting :P That said, hats off for trying to puzzle these things out - I'm really rubbish with theories :)
(As for the umbrellas, I think it's likely that the artist intended this to be a realist tribute to surrealist concepts - surrealist works are positively strewn with umbrellas, which I believe [i.e. can't actually remember] are a reference to Isidore Ducasse...forgive me, it's late and my brain isn't working terribly well :) Also, the painting's a tondo, which is unusal, and the pose of the male figure is reminiscent of a Pieta, which is fitting with the title - Christ, like a phoenix, rose again. Dreams and sleep are also a common surrealist theme, and the fact that there are irreconcilable elements to the picture is suggestive of a dream - particularly the floating window with the idyllic countryside versus the barren landscape of the foreground. I also agree that it's a tulip, not a rose :P. As for the woman on the horse, well...pass. Perhaps
( ... )
Somewhere in the back of my mind I have this idea that a lady on a horse is some sort of death symbol/psychopomp, but the only thing I can connect it to right now is Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. So perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree there. Or just barking. Anyway, thanks for the tips about surrealism; I never studied art and would never have made those connections.
Re: dreams and sleep...as I said to 45eugenia above, Keats's poem Endymion (and the Greek myth it's based on) has a lot of resonances with this painting, as well as the show itself.
Comments 16
Also, I don't really see the resemblence to Gene Hunt. If I squint, I can sort of see Misha Collins, though.
Still, interesting theories. The checkerboard does remind me of the office roof as well.
Reply
I think the figure's a ringer for a younger Guv, maybe when he was around 19 or so (the time he would have been murdered - thanks to jaceybatts for the caps):
( ... )
Reply
Reply
Reply
Don't think the writers would base anything in the show on something like a painting, but it all fits very well. Great find.
Reply
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
*nods* Yup. Plus, according to the BBC website, Ray's middle name is 'Milton'. :)
Also, re: Keats the poet? His poem Endymion - as well as the Greek myth it's based on - has huge resonances with this painting...and with A2A itself, depending on how you look at it.
And yeah...if Gene even thinks about laying down in a chair over the next few weeks, I am so gonna be all over it.
Reply
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
Reply
Joshua 6:20: "When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city."
Reply
Reply
(As for the umbrellas, I think it's likely that the artist intended this to be a realist tribute to surrealist concepts - surrealist works are positively strewn with umbrellas, which I believe [i.e. can't actually remember] are a reference to Isidore Ducasse...forgive me, it's late and my brain isn't working terribly well :) Also, the painting's a tondo, which is unusal, and the pose of the male figure is reminiscent of a Pieta, which is fitting with the title - Christ, like a phoenix, rose again. Dreams and sleep are also a common surrealist theme, and the fact that there are irreconcilable elements to the picture is suggestive of a dream - particularly the floating window with the idyllic countryside versus the barren landscape of the foreground. I also agree that it's a tulip, not a rose :P. As for the woman on the horse, well...pass. Perhaps ( ... )
Reply
Re: dreams and sleep...as I said to 45eugenia above, Keats's poem Endymion (and the Greek myth it's based on) has a lot of resonances with this painting, as well as the show itself.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment