Collection: We Were Here

That the past experience revived in the meaning

Is not the experience of one life only

But of many generations - not forgetting

Something that is probably quite ineffable…

Thomas Stearns Eliot, "Four Quartets"

 

Victoria Dael's work constitutes an example of how the culture and the art of each era are redefined and preserved over generations. History undergoes its changes, and the world of today is difficult to compare to the ancient period, the Renaissance or the beginning of the 20th century. However, this is only a superficial impression distorted by our everyday life. If we redirect our perception to the deep foundations of our being, we will understand that there is something permanent and timeless that persists, even if only ancient debris and ruins are seen on the surface. But they can offer us a more expressive and, oddly enough, a more comprehensive outlook on our entire, native and familiar world, which is only hiding behind the veil of time, while modern passions unfold on the main stage. In Victoria Dael's paintings, we come into contact with this world that stands on solid, eternal foundations. We all come from there.

The artist's gaze does not just slide on the surface, it perceives the world as a palimpsest, making a cross-section of the whole picture, it emphasizes the details, zooming in and out on the characters, and, just like any hostage of the canvas, it creates depth. And this depth is not only that of space, but also of time, in which each era retains its own cultural layer.

In Victoria Dael's paintings, time emerges through the freshest layers, observes us with the blind eyes of ancient statues, captivates us with the images of Renaissance boys — an infanta peering at us from the depths of history. The characters' faces are of noble features, their lips are curved in a smile full of condescending irony, preserved for centuries.

And so, we understand that history is not linear, that meanings and eras resonate and live in our consciousness, and the artist is the one endowed with the gift of expressing it, interpreting it in their own way, so that we, the trusting audience, can learn and love what perhaps was unknown to us before, but now has captured us entirely.