The Flight (Beginning of the End of the World)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

Jean Hugo wrote to his wife one December, "Each winter, the unicorns come out of the woods like wild boars and come to haunt me in my paintings." Such would seem to be the premise of The Flight , in which a silver unicorn, a black bull, and a mottled horse with a human face charge through a barren, moonlit landscape while harpies fly above. The austere setting recalls late medieval Italian painting, as does Hugo's use of egg tempera. These qualities would have appealed to Dr. Barnes, who appreciated modern artists' adaptations of past traditions to capture their own experiences.

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