Surrealistic landscape oil painting

Elysian Fields (2008)

Surrealistic

A big surrealistic oil painting. Surrealism – with Salvador Dali as exceptional example – always has drawn my attention. In the first decade of this millenium I was into surrealism all the way, before I experimented with cubism a decade later. Another example of my surrealist paintings is ‘Secret of the 50s (2007)’.

 

Elysian Fields

The painting is situated on the Elysian Fields, an existing spot near Nijmegen in Beek-Ubbergen, Gelerland, Nederland. It is a place I know well and when I walked there for the first time, back in 1980, with my parents, I was enchanted instantly. There is a great vibe that feels like coming home I cannot describe further. It is ancient and a bit of an oasis of tranquility, near the big city of Nijmegen. The view is from the northern and upper part of the fields, where there is a great vista over the Ooij Polder. In the back the church of Persingen (the smallest village of The Netherlands) is just visible.

 

Sage and the Moon

The main theme is centered in the painting and depicts me pointing at the moon, after a Chinese proverb: “When the sage points at the moon, the fool looks at the finger”. A little background to this story (quora.com)

 

Chan Buddhist scripture ‘Platform Sutra’.

Huineng (Chinese: 惠能; pinyin: Huìnéng, 638–713) was the Sixth and Last Patriarch of Chan Buddhism and he didn’t read Chinese or any other language. The story goes as one of his colleague monks had read the scripture of Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra for years and still didn’t get it.

Huìnéng askes her to read it to him and see if he can help explain. She laughs, you don’t even read and how can you understand? Huìnéng replies, “Truth has nothing to do with language. Truth is like Moon in the sky and language is like the finger that points to the moon. A finger can point out where the moon is, but the finger is not the truth. You can see the moon without help of any fingers, can you?”

 

Story loosely translated from 指月_百度百科

指月之说在《六祖坛经》中有这样的记载:无尽藏尼对六祖惠能说:“我研读《涅槃经》多年,劫仍有许多不解之处,希望能得到指教。”惠能对她说:“我不识字,请你把经读给我听,这样我或许可以帮你解决一些问题。”无尽藏尼笑道:“你连字都不识,怎谈得上解释经典呢?”惠能对她说:“真理是与文字无关的,真理好象天上的明月,而文字只是指月的手指,手指可以指出明月的所在,但手指并不就是明月,看月也不一定必须透过手指,不是这样吗?”于是无尽藏尼就把经读给了惠能听,惠能一句一句地给她解释,没有一点不合经文的原义。文字所记载的佛法经文都只是指月的手指,只有佛性才是明月之所在。

指月】 以指譬教,以月譬法。楞严经卷二(大一九·一一一上):‘如人以手指月示人,彼人因指,当应看月。若复观指,以为月体,此人岂唯亡失月轮,亦亡其指。’故诸经论多以指月一语以警示对文字名相之执着。禅宗则借此发挥其‘不立文字,教外别传’之教义。

 

Unluckily no one has guessed the theme, at least did not tell me that they say it. I guess the proverb must be true and everybody still is looking at my finger (painting) only, not what it tries to convey.

 

The arm low left is my arm pointing for the moon too. The lamp I derived from Diogenes’ story, carying a lamp at daylight, looking for an honest man. In the night you cannot find them too.

 

Participants.

Low left is a friend Angelique. Furthermore there are my esteemed former colleague Arnoud, folding his hands devoutely, my neighbour Addy and pope Benedict XVI, alias Joseph Ratzinger in casual clothting.

 

Night Paining

The second ambition was to do a night painting like Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh one time, just to have a look if I could pull it off. There are lots of blue complementing the scarce orange lights. The light source in the group is blocked by an arm, a trick I learned from Rembrandt.

 

Marishuis

In 2008 the painting was at display in my exhibition together with my dad Henk Akkers at the Marishuis, Heumen, Gelderland, Nederland.

 

Oil on wood panel (162 x 92 cm)

Artist: Corné Akkers

 

Sales info: info@corneakkers.com

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