Dreams of Desire 43 (The Sabbath)

~ Cakeordeath
the-sabbath-19621
Paul Delvaux-The Sabbath 1962

One of Paul Delvaux’s (Dreams of Desire 38 (Night Train), Dreams of Desire 39 (Sleeping Venus) and Dreams of Desire 40 (The Girls from the Provinces) more macabre paintings, The Sabbath from 1962 shows a group of mysterious robed (and disrobed) women, who it is safe to assume are witches given the title, strike a variety of poses. The solitary male in the painting, a professor who has strayed from a Jules Verne novel into this sinister forest clearance stares fixedly into the mirror, doubtless trying to avoid the fate of Actaeon when he beheld the untameable beauty of Diana.

53 thoughts on “Dreams of Desire 43 (The Sabbath)”

  1. You are writing hard this week. This is really cool. His hands don’t match up in the mirror, do they? Very interesting! I was trying to count all the candles to see if they were significant and then I couldn’t decide if the candles in the mirror counted or not… Anyway, the professor finds himself in quite the predicament, especially with two of the ladies enjoying themselves there in the background. How impossible to not look!

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    1. The hands don’t match just like the image in the mirror in Night Train doesn’t match either. Very mysterious. Hard not to look, however the witches do not like to be disturbed on their Sabbath, and Diana is one of their deities.

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      1. I am going to ask your forgiveness in advance for the next thing I’m about to say… Have you ever seen the American cartoon, Futurama? The professor in the painting looks like the professor in the cartoon. Sorry… *Cringing*

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      2. No need to be sorry… as he was referring to Jules Verne anyway and he is painting what is almost the professor archetype no surprise that another illustrated professor would resemble the figure Delvaux painted.

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  2. This is very fun to look at. What an odd thing to have the professor in there and a mirror. He’s surrounded by naked woman and can only look at himself. I also find it fascinating that the breasts are all different shapes and sizes. 😀

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    1. Well I take it the fully robed women with the foliage for hair is Diana… the hunter Actaeon witnessed her naked and she turned him into a deer that was then torn to shreds by his own pack of dogs. The professor is being very wise.

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      17. lol. I knew that…hmm, I can’t keep them straight. I don’t know if I want to hang with witches though…Maybe I will adopt the professor’s stance.

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  3. “The Sabbath” has a really dark and oddly sinister feel to it. I can’t locate the train, can you? It’s beautiful, yet is up against unsettling. Thank you Mr. Cake, for another work by Delvaux. He is true to his vision. ~ Miss Cranes

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  5. Pingback: The Art of the Atrocity Exhibition | cakeordeathsite

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