A barrier that can transform itself into a propulsion vehicle towards the rediscovery of irrepressible emotions and a lost humanity
No page, article or word could describe better than this painting by Magritte, “The lovers”, what we are experiencing, in these days, struggling with the Coronavirus.
The work, which dates back to 1928, is the version of the New York MoMA and depicts a veiled kiss between two lovers who cannot come out in the light of the veil that covers them as if, in fact, they had to hide from the whole world.
Like the Belgian painter's lovers, we too, gripped by fear, are forced to "hide", to use "filters", barriers to stem the specter of contagion.
On TV, on social networks, on the radio, on national and local newspapers, we hear disturbing news every day about the enormous expansion of this virus and, alas, of new deaths.
It is an almost surreal situation, which sees us forced to limit contacts with others as much as possible, to use masks with sick people, to avoid gathering places.
The authorities recommend that we stay as much as possible, at home or at a distance of at least one meter from people.
We are afraid to even invite a friend.
Lovers let alone!
Yet some emotions remain overbearing.
The desire for an encounter, the desire for contact are stronger than ever, just as Magritte wanted to show through this canvas.
Hidden behind their shrouds, in fact, the two exchange, with a veiled kiss, a "mute" love, incapable of a language other than that of the body.
Work that brings back surrealistic themes par excellence: we are faced with a love prisoner of death, which is the last obstacle to life.
The white veil prevents the two lovers from communicating and this brings back a sense of restlessness and anguish, the same that each of us is experiencing.
Kisses and hugs are forbidden but perhaps this moment can push us to use other forms of contact, other "veils" to defend ourselves from fear, such as that of digital technologies.
Paradoxically, what previously represented a vehicle of social alienation today, with the Coronavirus, constitutes a "safe" means, if not the only one, with which to continue to stay in contact with the other; a "harmless" tool with which to exchange and share primordial feelings and emotions.
Finally, a way to rediscover and appreciate even more the value of the encounter and of a lost humanity.
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