Sorrow And Triumph By Victoria Levitskaya

  Here is an old man and an old cat who have come to the end of their shared journey.  It is not the artwork but the presentation that I find so heartrending.  The art is good but I see lots of good art without it affecting me like this has.  

 

The little cat holds onto the hand of the person he loves and worships.  The man is ready for their journey and he knows that all eternity stretches before him and his beloved friend.  It is hinted that the man is a person of intelligence and extreme kindness.  The cat accepts his hand and is ready to go with his father wherever fate takes them.  He does not know anything except that only goodness will come to him while he is with his human. The man protects his little friend and always will.

An ocean is the visual metaphor of time stretching far beyond any human's comprehension.  This is journey's end and a new adventure at once. These two will be together forever, for love never dies.  It is locked into the time worm and cannot be excised or obliterated.  Even if they never meet again this moment is unique and discrete.  The little cat trusts the man as much as the man loves him.  This is a picture of devotion such as I have never seen.  Hopefully the cat will die first and his owner will see him off proper.  While sad, this is the best the natural order offers us.  Animals are our wards.  Even if raised for slaughter they have the right to a decent life, never mind those that we call our pets.  They are our partners, and we must look after our partners.
And -  the rose symbolizes the eternal renewal of life and love, even among rocks and sand, maybe especially among rocks and sand.

(Painting copyrighted by Victoria Levitskaya.  I took this off a commercial site, and that is why it is covered with watermarks.  This is the only such picture I have ever posted and I wanted to put this up very badly.  I thought it important enough to break a rule.  The title is one that I have given it).