“The Rape of Proserpina”,
1621-1622,
Borghese Galerisi, Roma
In Greek Mythology, Bernini engraved the legend that gives the turn of the season, the awakening of nature and the good news of spring on marble. His story is as follows; One day, Persephone, the daughter of Zeus, the god of the sky, and Demeter, the god of soil and fertility, was kidnapped by Hades, the god of the underworld, who fell in love with her while picking flowers. Hades takes Persephone to the underground land of the dead and makes her eat a pomegranate seed so that she will never come back to earth. According to the belief, in the land of Hades, anyone who puts something in his mouth can never leave. Demeter, who is looking for her daughter everywhere with sadness, leaves no place in the world, but still cannot find her daughter. Finally, he learns from Helios, the all-seeing sun god, that Persephone is in the land of Hades. In desperation, he flees from Olympos and retreats to a deserted place. With his embarrassment to the world, the fertility of the soil also disappears, drought and famine begin.
Zeus finds a compromise for Demeter to return to Olympos and end the drought in the world; He decides that Persephone will spend two-thirds of the year with her mother Demeter on earth and the remaining third with Hades underground. Thus, in the months when Persephone comes to the surface, the earth awakens, flowers everywhere, and in the months when she goes underground while giving fruit, nature gets angry again, sheds its leaves and the winter season is experienced.
In his marble sculpture, Bernini reflects the very 'moment' of Hades abducting Persephone. Persephone's hair swaying while trying to escape from Hades' arms, Hades' disturbing expression, and a teardrop on Persephone's face are all very real. The entanglement of Hades' fingers in Persephone's flesh casts doubt on it being marble. This sculpture, which is one of the most influential works of the Baroque period, shows the mastery of Bernini even though he is 23 years old.
In MiniSanat's Flora series, I wanted to tell the awakening of nature, which celebrates Persephone's emergence, with mimosas heralding spring. And I colored the series with the yellow of the sun and the green of nature so that we wake up with nature every spring and become more colorful.
May your hope be with us like the mimosas of spring...
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