Espelho

Pintura de Pierre Bonnard, La Table de Toilette (c. 1908, Museu d'Orsay, Paris).

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Quando primeiro olhei para esta pintura vi uma bela natureza morta com objectos de toilette. Olhando melhor vi um espelho. Olhando para o espelho vi um nu feminino.

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«The mirror has a great deal in common with art. Like art, it is an artifice. When you hold a mirror up to reality, you do not see reality but instead see the illusion of reality as it is reflected on a two-dimensioned surface. In this sense, a mirror is much like the two-dimensioned surface of a painted canvas. And like art, the mirror is full of contradictions. Although it purports to reflect reality, it always reverses its image and cannot, at any given time, show all sides of physical existence. Despite all of its limitations, the mirror allows us to confront our physical and spiritual selves, and some might say this is the same basic, underlying principle of art».

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Elaine Shefer (1998).