THE WALL: Fancis Bacon

The Wall (detail)
Portrait of Francis Bacon, 3
Scattergood Moore

". . . if you look at walls covered with many stains . . . with the idea of imagining some scene, you will see in it a similarity to landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, tree, plains, broad vallerys, and hills of all kinds. You may also see in it battles and figures with lively gestures and strange faces and costumes and an infinity of things which you can reduce to separate and complex forms. And with these walls . . . it is as with the sound of bells; in their ringing you may find all the sounds and words that you wish to imagine."

- Leonardo da Vinci, 1492

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Georgio de Chirico

by Paul Eluard

A wall denounces another wall

And the shadows defend me from my timid shadow
O tower of my love surrounding my love
My silence turns the walls white

What do you defend? Sky unfeeling and clear,
Trembling you sheltered me. The prominent light
In the sky is no longer the mirror of the sun
But the stars of day among green leaves.

The memory of those who spoke without knowing,
Masters of my weakness. And I have replaced them
With eyes of love and hands too loyal
To depopulate a world from which I am absent.

1924

(Translated by Tom Hibbard)