Crackpot Painting Theory
I found this very interesting picture, and I have to wonder if the writers had it in mind as they were writing the series.
It's called La Fenice, "The Phoenix". Some connections to the show are obvious: the checkerboard tiles (the floor/ceiling in CID); the rose (Operation Rose); and the reclining figure, who bears a startling resemblance to a young Gene Hunt. Others are subtler: the lady on the horse (Alex?); the pastoral landscape and 'window to another world' (the field with the dead cop's shallow grave, and a river running through it); and of course the title itself: the Phoenix is a mythical character who dies in flames and is reborn by rising from the ashes (to Ashes).
I found the picture because I vaguely remember someone saying that the image of Gene Hunt holding the dead stripper in 2x01 was significant (thanks to magicallaw for the cap). It's certainly religiously evocative: a gender-reversal of Mary holding the crucified Christ. But it also features Gene in a reclining pose, closing his eyes as though he were sleeping. Have we ever seen him in a more similar pose to the painting, though? Ie, lying in a chair with his head back? Points to anyone who can provide a screencap; the closest I can find is him dozing in the Cortina.
Other connections: the picture was painted by a student of Pietro Annigoni, the guy who did the portrait of Queen Elizabeth that's in Gene's office and behind Ray's desk. And anyone familiar with my theory of who Gene Hunt really is won't be surprised that I find the artist's name (Michael John Angel) quite deliciously ironic. :)
Anyway, if this picture did inspire the writers, I think the most fascinating thing it suggests is that Gene Hunt might be the one 'dreaming' the copper's limbo, not Sam or Alex. And although the male figure looks like the subject of the painting, the title is clearly feminine: La Fenice. The steps point towards her, not the window to another world. Interesting.
Thoughts? Spec? Anyone see something I've missed? I'm intrigued to hear peoples' ideas...after all, this week we're at the halfway point; we'll only have four more episodes to come up with crackpot theories like this!
Q
crossposted to my journal