Few survived the tortuous journey of the M.S. St. Louis in which 973 passengers headed for Cuba in May/June of 1939. They were turned away from Cuba as well as from the US and returned to Europe. 254 were killed in the Holocaust.
All aspects of this painting are suspended by ropes. We are all hanging by a thread and rarely are aware of the tenuousness of our existence. The fragments of the ship and the severed pieces of the figure are all bound and suspended. These ropes create graphic network through which we experience this bizarre scene.
The St. Louis is caught in the branches of the tree. And it is resting on the fragments of the rainbow. The rainbow at the end of the Noah story was to symbolize that there would never be such a total disaster as the Flood. Wrong!!! This covenant was broken over and over again by Humankind.
The sectioned figure moves determinedly away for the Ship toward an unknown future. As we all move forward into the unknown future. One need only hear or see the refugees of the Ukraine who share their plight.
Will humankind ever learn from our misdeeds to create a more equitable present and future? The beauty of the painting and its colors are contrasted by the evil it refers to.
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