Antonin Artaud lies in the right corner, demanding we leave the caverns of existence for the spirit of Universal Thought where the Marvelous lays out its roots.
The river is where the forces of being and ultimate nerves of spirit run.
The woman is the fossil imprint bewildered by Artaud’s madness. As such they are both plagues on the world but sieved and strange. They are demanding (that word again) that they swim in their bodies and leave their souls within their souls.
But of course, Artaud could only preach such sermons until madness finally consumed him. There is a historical moment in the picture: surrealism of the 1920’s and 30’s made references to Hegel, Marx, Freud, Revel on chance, mediums and metaphysics – and looked East. In 1934 Breton wrote: ‘Orient of anger and of pearls! … You who are the shining image of my dispossession, Orient, beautiful bird of prey and of innocence, I implore you from the depths of the kingdom of shadows.’ (Point du Jour, Paris, 1934).
Earlier, in 1925, Artaud closed the Bureau of Surrealist Enquiries. It had been open since October 11th1924 at 15, rue de Grenelle, Paris, from 4:30 to 6:30 every day except Sunday. Artaud explained his decision: ‘ The Central Bureau, more alive than ever, is henceforth behind sealed doors, but the world must know that it exists.’
The painting captures an exquisite moment where the medium Eva Carrière (1886 – 1943) (the woman Eva C) and the surrealist Artaud enjoy the last open day in the hysteria of the Bureau , circa, 1925.
