Orpheus and Eurydice
2004. Bronze. 230cm

Orpheus is one of the most important and complex characters of Greek mythology. He is the archetypal figure of the poet in whom the symbolism of two eternal truths meets. Poetry and music have the gift to stir even the most insensitive of beings, prefiguring a world in which death, evil and pain have been defeated. Many of our ideals disappear into thin air when they are shown to us in their very essence. Orpheus originally from Thrace, is the son of Apollo (God of Beauty) and Clio (the Muse of History) and husband of Eurydice. His voice had the power to move stones, tame wild animals and even enchant the horrendous underworld. So when his beloved wife suddenly died after being bitten by a snake, Orpheus descended into Hades demanding that the Gods of hell bring her back to life. His song was so enchanting that Persephone granted him his request to take her back to the world of the living on the condition that during the return journey he must not look at her. Orpheus, so impatient, was unable to resist. Having almost reached their destination he looked behind to see her and Eurydice was quickly taken away from him, swallowed up, this time forever, by the darkness of Hades.

Anna Chromy illustrates the tragic moment of Orpheus’ final weakness in a sculpture to portray other unexpected metamorphoses. Eurydice dissolves into the blinding whiteness of the stone and only Orpheus remains in the emptiness of a dream. The statues are made of bronze and marble and represent sound and silence, the irreconcilable diversity of motion and stillness. Whilst Orpheus desperately calls out to her and holds out his hand to her in vain, she, instead of coming back to life turns into a musical instrument. How different these two figures are, that have now been condemned to love each other even though they are miles apart both in substance and distance. But this extreme tension which separates them is represented here not in a place but in a wide open mouth from which a new song is born, a new song which feeds on pain. Orpheus paid the highest price for his love of Eurydice, that is, the experience of losing it forever. Only somebody who has loved and suffered now has the right to sing, although even then the unsteady, fragile flow of memories is not enough for the poet. Only the purified perfection of music can save Eurydice forever.